MINT HILL, NC – The Mint Hill Patriots who represent the Town of Mint Hill and American Legion Post 555 defeated the Denver Cardinals 2-0 in a very well-played baseball game. The Independence graduating senior who will be heading to play Junior College baseball had a splendid night on the mound tossing his first-ever no-hitter in his outstanding career.

Lohrer was very efficient, he allowed only 3 walks on 84 pitches, he had 8 strike-outs, and completely shut down the Cardinals offense. He had three strikeouts in the first inning, he fanned the first two hitters, walked the number 3 hitter, and followed with his third strikeout fanning powerful clean-up hitter Derek Farley.

He then ended the ball game striking out the final batter on a 1-2 count. After getting the first two outs, he walked a batter on a 3-2 count in the final inning just missing the outside corner, but with pure determination and true grit he remained focused and would strike out the final batter swinging on a high heater.

Then it was celebration time, as Mint Hill catcher Sam House who called an excellent ball game behind the plate, also made several blocks around the dish, jumped up, and ran out to congratulate Lorher on the mound along with the entire hometown team.

The Patriots scored first in the second inning when Adam Wilkerson would draw a base-on-balls, he would advance to second on a stolen base, he took off with a good jump, the pitch was blocked in the dirt, and he was now in scoring position. With the count at 2-2 on Taylor Moser, a wild pitch moved Wilkerson to third base, on the next pitch Moser smacked a hard grounder to deep shortstop, he was just nipped at first base on a fine play, but Wilkerson broke for home with excellent timing, with headfirst arms fully extended slide he would beat the throw from the first baseman to score, giving the home team a 1-0 edge. This run proved to be all the Patriots would need tonight.

However, in the home half of the sixth inning, Lohrer drilled a double into the left-center field gap and would eventually score on a sacrifice fly by Ick Cirino for an important insurance run giving the home squad a 2-0 advantage.

After the game, Lohrer mentioned what an outstanding job his teammates did behind him defensively. “I just want to say ‘Thank You’ to my defense, they played really great, made every play, the no-hitter could not have been accomplished without their tremendous effort,” said Lohrer.

The young man is absolutely correct in the assessment of his teammate’s performance. The defense played flawlessly, they made some excellent defensive plays on the field, especially on a few hard-hit balls by the visitors from Denver.

Mint Hill Coach Glenn Mangum was also excited for the boys. “This was a well-played baseball game, we had good pitching by both teams, some timely hitting, solid defense, and we are getting a better understanding of the talent we have on this baseball club.  Furthermore, Wilson was very efficient, he pitched an excellent ball game, and seemed to be on the same page as catcher Sam House throughout the contest.”