The unfavorable weather conditions have had their effect on baseball players so far this season by forcing their practices inside and have postponed the beginning of the season for some teams.

Luzerne Trailblazers (1-4) pitcher Matthew Zielen seemed unaffected by it though when he threw 117 pitches in 8 innings and struck out 12 with only one walk to beat the Bucks County Centurions (0-1) by a score of 5-3 on March 28.

“I kind of got into a groove early and my fastball was working pretty well”, Zielen said. “It was pretty cold out so I think that had something to do with it.”

The turning point of the game came in the second inning when third basemen Anthony Ionna would double in two runs that would extend their lead from one run to three runs.

The Centurions have had their first two games of the season post-poned due to the bad weather and the result was that their starter Patrick O’Leary was a little wild surrendering four runs over four innings and struck out five.

O’Leary’s bullpen counterpart Matthew Creevey would come in to relieve him after that to throw five innings of one run ball with one strike out.

“I think we did good in our first game out, the cold weather did not help, but I think overall we got a lot of positives, we got a lot of hits, but just didn’t get the fundamentals right and they just got hits when they needed them,” Creevey would say later.

The Centurions would get 14 hits, but there main trouble was not hitting with guys in scoring position as Zeilend would repeatedly get out of jams. They were also a little too aggressive on the base paths that led to a couple guys getting thrown out. This is something Centurion Coach Jeff Cochran would admit to later.

The anxiousness to start the season would finally be relieved for the Centurions, but the Trailblazers had already lost the first three games of the season and were desperate for a win.

The Trailblazers would add another run in the fourth  to make it 4-0 off of a fielder’s choice hit by Zeilen that made the Centurions seem a little frazzled as they would go quietly in the bottom half of the inning.

The Centurion defense would spark the offense an inning later when outfielder Michael Klimowicz would pull off a great double play and Creevey would get the last out with the bases loaded. The Centurions would then get on the board in the bottom half of the inning when first basemen Dustin Singer would single home a run.

Creevey would credit the defense afterwards for his success saying, “I don’t strike many people out so I need to rely on my defense and they really stepped up and made the big plays.

Creevy might have been ridden a little bit too long.  He finally broke down in the eighth inning when he would surrender a run on a wild pitch for his team to fall behind 5-1.  He would limit the damage though, by getting out of the inning a batter later.

The Centurions got some unconventional help in the bottom of the inning when Creevy would take to the offensive by getting a leadoff double and got batted in by outfielder Zachary Stuebing. They would not get any closer than that though as they would end the inning with back to back strikeouts.

The bottom of the ninth inning offered a little more drama after the Centurions would make it 5-3 off of a single by their catcher Drew Sica. They would not get any closer as Ionna would get his first save.

Cochran seemed satisfied with his team’s play, despite the loss saying, “They did extremely well for their first game out. We have been inside for a month and a half and working outside once and these guys have four games under their belt. I am extremely proud of these guys, they got behind, but they battled and did great.”