SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier baseball team struggled to solve Pioneer’s Hugh Cyhowski on Wednesday.

Cyhowski was dealing from the opening pitch on. He didn’t allow a runner to reach base until the fourth inning (hit by pitch), and through six innings, the senior had not allowed a hit. 

Frontier’s Grayson Loos broke up the no-hit bid with a double in the seventh but that was all Cyhowski would allow, as he finished with nine strikeouts and just two walks. Pioneer pulled away with a 10-0 Suburban League West victory. 

“With Hugh on the mound, the sky is the limit for us,” Panthers coach Kevin Luippold said. “He keeps his composure no matter how many are on base or what the count is. It doesn’t matter to him. One-hitter, there’s not much more to say about that. He was dominant on the mound.” 

It wasn’t the way Frontier hoped to begin its campaign defending the Suburban West title, but Redhawks coach Chris Williams said he hopes this loss fuels his team the rest of the season. 

“It’s definitely a disappointing day,” Williams said. “We think we’re a team who can be as good as anybody on any given day. Today they had us. We are looking forward to the next time we play those guys. Hopefully the stakes will be as high as they can be. This is something that will sit with us and something we’ll take personally. This will be our motivation the rest of the year in the Suburban West.”

After knocking 16 hits against Monson on Tuesday, Luippold said he was proud of his team for staying hot at the plate. Pioneer finished with 11 hits against a tough Redhawks staff. 

“The bats were alive all day,” Luippold said. “Hitting against a great team like Frontier is a big confidence builder for our guys. We kept the bats hot and everyone did their job up there.” 

The Panthers (4-0) opened up the scoring in the top of the first. Braeden Tsipenyuk and Cyhowski cracked back-to-back singles before Evan Tsipenyuk cracked a hit up the middle that brought Braeden Tsipenyuk home to give Pioneer the opening lead.

The scoring continued in the second. Heath Gomez got on with a single, Jackson Campbell reached on an error and Alex McClelland scored Gomez with a base hit. Braeden Tsipenyuk hit a sacrifice fly that brought Campbell across, and after a pair of walks, McClelland made it home on a wild pitch to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the second. 

A Frontier error in the fifth allowed Evan Tsipenyuk to score. Pioneer tacked three on in the sixth, with Evan Tsipenyuk driving Cyhowski in with a single, Jackson Glazier singling to score Ethan Mauthe and Gomez grounding into a fielder’s choice that allowed Evan Tsipenyuk to score. 

An error in the top of the seventh brought Campbell in to score before Evan Tsipenyuk put the ball in play to allow McClelland to also score, giving Pioneer its commanding 10-0 lead. 

“These kids are working hard at it,” Luippold said. “Right now we’re just trying to keep the momentum going. We know it’s easy to fall into a rut. We know a slump could come at any point. That’s baseball. You can have 19 hits one day and zero the next. Thankfully that didn’t happen today. Right now we’re rolling and just need to keep that going.” 

Tyler Cusson went 4 1/3 innings on the mound for the Redhawks, striking out a pair. Wyatt Edes struck out two while Max Skribiski-Banack added a strikeout in relief. 

“I’m impressed with Cusson’s start,” Williams said. “He was pounding the zone for us. I was happy about that. I’ll give our guys credit, we limited strikeouts as much as we could. We watched too many good pitches but we’re putting the ball in play on a rainy day. That’s all I can ask for. This one is tough to swallow but hopefully they use it to go win some baseball games in the future.”