By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

An explosive nine run first inning, coupled with near-flawless pitching, was enough to propel the Dexter Bearcats (4-1) to a 13-1 victory over the Kelly Hawks on Wednesday afternoon.

Brad Potts took to the mound for the 'Cats, and hurled three perfect innings to open up a massive early lead for the Bearcats. Potts was good for seven strikeouts in his 64 pitch outing.

"I thought Brad Potts threw a great game today," Dexter head coach Brian Becker said. "He had command of every pitch, and he hit his spots really well today. We got up early, and Potts went out there and took us the rest of the way, and he did a great job."

Kelly started a side-arm pitcher, and Becker noted that despite pre-game concern about the unorthodox throwing mechanics, his squad did an outstanding job producing at the plate.

"When we saw him warming up, I thought, 'Oh boy,'" Becker said with a laugh. "We told them to keep their front side on, and to make sure they tried to work up the middle to the opposite field, and I thought they did a very good job of that."

Cody Neldon was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, advanced to second on a stolen base, and was moved to third on a Brad Potts single. Chase Young hit a hard shot to right-center to drive in Neldon and open up the floodgates during the first inning. After 14 batters and nine runs, the Hawks were able to move into the second inning, but Potts sat down the first three batters he faced.

"We busted it open there in the first; [Kelly] had a little trouble fielding the ball, but we also put the bat on the ball pretty well," Becker said. "We were able to put nine runs up there in the first, and Potts goes out and throws nine pitches in the first inning, that's a coaches dream right there."

The 'Cats played great defense throughout the contest, committing just one error opposed to Kelly's six. Josh Overall and Jordan Miller swapped their usual positions, with Overall at third and Miller at second, but showed their versatility with great efforts in the field.

"We played great defense today. Josh Overall did a great job at third today and made some outstanding plays," Becker noted. "[Chase] Young did a good job at short, and made the routine plays as well. I've been really satisfied with our defense so far this year, and hopefully we can keep that up."

The Bearcats will be off until Saturday afternoon, when they face off against Ste. Genevive in a 'meet me in the middle' game played at Cape Central High School.

"I'm not sure [about them]," Becker said of the Dragons. "What i do know is that they always put a quality product out on the field every year. I think it will be a pretty good battle."

Becker indicated that either Logan Northern (1-0) or Owen Flowers would get the start for the Bearcats.

Photos above:
Top: Brad Potts delivers a pitch during Wednesday's 13-1 rout of the Kelly Hawks. The junior gave up one earned run on two hits, struck out seven and walked one on the day.
Bottom: Josh Overall watches a fly ball go foul during the fifth inning on Wednesday's big win. The senior walked once and scored a run in the run-rule victory.