Joey Conway’s shutout on the mound and Trever Hartzell’s three runs scored led Catasauqua to a 9-0 win at Moravian Academy on Thursday (April 23).

Conway allowed just two hits and three walks, while striking out nine in his complete game.

“Joey did a real nice job,” said Steve Bradley, Catasauqua manager. “I think he threw under 90 pitches. That was huge.”

At the plate, Hartzell got the Rough Riders started in the first inning when he singled, stole second base and moved to third on a fielder’s choice, before scoring on a Conway sacrifice fly.

“He (Hartzell) has been one of our best all year,” Bradley said. “He goes 100 miles an hour. He’s super coachable. He is one of the leaders in hitting on our team. A lot of people wouldn’t guess that he is a freshman because he plays like a senior. I am very, very pleased with Trevor.”

Catasauqua added another run in the second inning when Luis Collazo singled, stole both second and third, then scored on a sacrifice fly from catcher Evan Reed.

The senior catcher also played a strong game defensively for Catasauqua, throwing out two of the three Moravian Academy baserunners to reach first base in the first four innings.

“Evan is a super tough kid,” Bradley said. “He has brought a lot of positivity to our team and he does a great job behind the plate. He goes 110 miles an hour every minute of the game and every minute of practice. I’m so glad he came back out this year. He lost the last two years (to injuries).”

Coming back and contributing has been fun, Reed said.

“It feels good knowing that I can come back after so long and still play well and still enjoy it,” Reed said. “It’s the most fun I’ve had in this sport in a while, and I love this team.”

The Rough Riders scored twice in the third. Hartzell again reached to lead off the inning, stole second and moved to third on a fielder’s choice before scoring on a passed ball. Then, Asael Gonzalez, running for Conway after he reached with a walk, scored from second base after an attempted pickoff throw got away to make it 4-0.

Gonzalez remained in the game and doubled in the fourth to bring home Alex Bolmer and give the Rough Riders a 5-0 lead. It moved to 6-0 when Gonzalez scored while Hartzell got caught in a rundown.

Moravian Academy had two runners on in the fifth inning, but Conway struck out Kellen Jankowski and retired Gavin Hayes on a ground ball to first to get out of the inning.

“Joey (Conway) did an amazing job,” Reed said. “We always love to see a full game out of a pitcher, especially a young one like Joey.”

Catasauqua scored its final three runs in the seventh inning. Cody Roth singled to bring home Hartzell who had singled and stole second base. Then, Collazo doubled to score Roth and Max Bergman, who was running for Conway, who had singled.

Hartzell punctuated his performance in the bottom of the seventh with a diving catch in right field.

“I’ll give Moravian Academy credit,” Bradley said. “They hung in there for seven innings with us. Each of their pitchers did their job. We did make some good contact. I think we ran the bases well. I would like to see us string some more hits together.”

The win moved Catasauqua to 7-7 on the season.

“We went through a couple of tough ones recently, but it feels nice to get the train back on the tracks,” Reed said. “Hopefully, we can keep those wins piling up.”

Moving forward, the Rough Riders need to forget about recent losses and “go for it” to make district play, Bradley said.

“We know we can play with any team in the league,” he said.

Moravian Academy dropped to 0-14 with the loss.