Modi'in beat Petah Tikva 2-0 in just one hour and 36 minutes.
By JPOST.COM STAFFBaseball Tigers 298.88(photo credit: Efrat Sa'ar)
The Modi'in Miracle beat the Petah Tikva Pioneers 2-0 on Tuesday in just one hour and 36 minutes, the quickest game so far of the short IBL season.
Australian lefty Matt Bennett pitched a no-hitter with10 strikeouts and one walk to out-duel Brooklyn native Alper Ulatas, who gave up two runs and four hits in 52â„3 innings.
Bennett was dominating throughout his seven innings of work.
At one point Miracle third baseman Jamie Aimar could not make a play to first.
The play was ruled an error and Petah Tikva asked for it to be reviewed after the game, but the official scorekeeper stood by his ruling to give the IBL its second no-hitter of the season.
The little offense from Modi'in came off the bat of Californian Aaron Levin who hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to put the Miracle up1-0. In the bottom of the sixth Dominican centerfielder Adalberto Paulino added an insurance run with an RBI double as Modi'in improves to 3-2 on the season.
At Yarkon Field in Petah Tikva, the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox topped the Ra'anana Express 5-0 to improve to 7-0 on the season.
Dominican right-hander Juan Feliciano improved his personal record to 2-0 by pitching a complete game two-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking just two.
The Blue Sox were aided by a shaky Ra'anana defense as well as
the bats of star hitters Jason Rees and Johnny Lopez. Rees went 2-3 on the night with an RBI raising his batting average to .579 and Lopez went 3-4 with a run scored putting him at .440 for the season.
Manager Ron Blomberg's club is now2.5 games ahead of the second-place Tel Aviv Lightning.
