If Liberty can get through this week without blemishes on their schedule, head coach Andy Pitsilos will feel better about where his team stands heading into the second half of the season.

The Hurricanes (8-2, 6-2) helped their cause in the East Penn Conference's Steel Division with a 4-0 victory over city-rival Freedom last Friday evening at Coca-Cola Park.

Ben Hudock earned his first win of the season on the mound for Liberty, as he struck out four and gave up three hits and a walk in the effort.

"We're doing pretty well for being a young team," said Pitsilos. "You know we could be 10-0 or 5-5 too. We've just been having great defense and good pitching. The hitting still isn't there, but it takes time for a team that doesn't have a ton of varsity experience.

"Beating Freedom was big though. That definitely helps us in the standings."

The Patriots (5-4, 4-3) couldn't get their bats going against Hudock last week, despite getting 10 strikeouts from starting pitcher John Yocum.

The 'Canes scored two runs each in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to keep the Pates at bay, as Elias Gross went 3-for-3 on the night with an RBI. Sammy Kraihanzel and Dave Guarriello added RBI's of their own to the win.

Being winners of four straight, Pitsilos goes into a week with three games in row starting on Tuesday with Bethlehem Catholic (0-6, 0-5), followed by Wednesday's affair with Whitehall (6-3, 3-3) and Thursday's tilt against Allen (5-4, 4-4).

"I'll feel better about ourselves if we can get a couple wins this week in our division," said Pitsilos. "You got to remember that Allen beat us 3-2 earlier this year."

Freedom lost to Parkland on Saturday 12-0 to close out a tough weekend. The Pates look to turn things around this week with three road games against Allen, Easton (4-4, 4-3) and Dieruff (2-5, 1-4).

Bethlehem Catholic is still searching for their first win of the season after losing to Easton 8-4 last week at Coca-Cola Park and falling to Emmaus 5-1 on Friday afternoon.

The Hawks take on Liberty, Dieruff and Pleasant Valley (4-6, 4-5) this week.