In a matchup between the two Austin-area amateur baseball teams in the Twin Rivers League, the Hayfield/Austin Athletics proved to be the better of the pair, bludgeoning the Austin Merchants 11-1 on Friday night.

The A's relied on clutch hitting, excellent pitching, and numerous errors by the Merchants throughout the evening. Hayfield/Austin got on the board in the third inning by scoring three runs, which ended up being more than enough run support for Luke Fischer.

Fischer, the A's staff ace, was superb throughout the game, mixing his pitches well on his way to recording a remarkable 17 strikeouts.

Fischer went the full nine innings, giving up only one unearned run.

"Fischer pitched great for us tonight," said A's player/coach Troy Holtz. "Also, the Mechants made some errors early on that let up break the game open."

The Merchants played sloppy defense all night, allowing numerous unearned runs to cross the plate for the A's.

"We made five errors tonight, and that's five too many," said a disgusted Merchants player/coach Nate Hansen.

Clint Ripley started for the Merchants, performing well despite some control problems that caused him to hit four batters and walk 10.

He was also a victim of his team's defense and was never able to get in a groove. Ripley went 8 2/3 innings before giving way to Mark Toov, who recorded the last out of the game for the Merchants.

"We just didn't come to play tonight," Ripley said.

Nick Bowe and Jamie Beck led the A's offense with two hits apiece, with Beck scoring three of the A's 11 runs.

Jeff Kvam was the lone bright spot for the stagnant Merchants offense, going 3-5 on the night.

Ripley scored the Merchants only run on an Athletics error in the fourth inning.

The Merchants (7-11, 7-10) don't play again until Monday when they host Kasson at Marcusen Park. The A's (10-17, 9-10) finish their regular-season schedule playing against the Rochester Roadrunners Sunday night at Hudson Field in Rochester at 7:30 p.m.

Linescore:

Athletics003300005--11102

Merchants000100000--165

Luke Fischer and Matt Juncker; Clint Ripley, Mark Toov (9) and Brandon Schuck. WP--Fischer. LP--Ripley. 2B -- H/A: Juncker, Linbo.

'Hounds hammer Blues

In Friday night's opening game, the Austin Greyhounds defeated the Rochester Blues 12-1 in a non-league game at Marcusen Park.

Dave Meyer was nearly perfect for the Greyhounds, pitching a complete-game one-hitter, allowing the only hit of the game with one out in the seventh and final inning.

The Greyhound offense was able to manufacture runs by capitalizing on several Rochester errors and stringing together some timely base hits. Tate Cummins had three RBIs for the Greyhounds, while Nick Rohne, Garrett Swank and John Frein each had two hits.

"We played with confidence tonight, and this was a good tune-up before our tournament this weekend," said Austin coach Joe Serratorre.

Linescore:

Rochester0000000--012

Austin065001x--12102

Sikkink, Clarey (3) and Matti, Rink; Meyer and Rohne, Raso. WP -- Meyer. LP -- Sikkink. 2B -- A: Cummins, Swank, Meyer.