The artic-like weather conditions during the game between Lehighton and Tamaqua wasn't the only thing that was cold on Thursday. Both offenses were frigid as well thanks to brilliant performances by starting pitchers Anthony Rossino and Matt Minchoff.

With two outs and nobody aboard in the bottom of the seventh inning, the game appeared to heading to extra innings.Everything changed with one swing of the bat. Tamaqua's Brett Kosciolek got just enough of a Nick Hill hanging breaking ball to barely clear the left field fence, giving the Raiders a 1-0 walk-off victory over the Indians."Unfortunately for us that's why he was the TIMES NEWS Player of the Year last year," said Lehighton head coach Brian Polaha. "It was very limited offense today. This is what you expect on a day like today. It's cold and it's also our first game."We had a few opportunities with a few guys on base but we couldn't capitalize today."Minchoff was extremely efficient on the mound for the Raiders. The Tamaqua starter scattered just four hits over five innings of work and struck out two Indian batters.The Indians had multiple runners on base a few times during the contest. However, timely ground balls and double plays for Tamaqua made that a non-factor in the end."I'm very pleased with our pitching today," said Tamaqua head coach Jeff Reading. "Our guys went out there and tried to get ahead in the count. They threw their pitches, hit their spots, and got a lot of ground ball outs. With the way the wind was blowing today, it could have been a circus trying to catch fly balls. They kept the ball down in the zone the entire game which was a key today."Despite the loss, the previously mentioned Rossino was arguably the most impressive in the contest.The Indian ace posted six innings of two hit baseball; while striking out seven and walking only one batter. Rossino got ahead of nearly every better and had the Raiders off balance the entire game.Pohala said, "He was phenomenal today. Anthony was everything we needed and more. His pitch count (75) was great especially for his first time being out. He pounded the zone, got ahead in the count and really did a heck of a job. Unfortunately, we couldn't score a run for the guy."Both coaches agreed that pitching and defense will keep you in games, but you're ultimately going to have to score some runs one way or another."We have to figure out how to score runs now that some of our better hitters are gone," said Polaha. "We will go as far as our offense goes and if it picks up, we'll do fine. We knew runs were going to be at a premium today."Hopefully next time we can come up with a few runs and it'll be different. We need to have better at bats and I'm expecting us to improve vastly as the season goes on."Kosciolek led the Raiders with eight home runs last year, and he looks to eclipse that mark during his junior campaign.But coach Reading knows that Tamaqua will have to find more contributors on offense to help get the job done this year."Our guys were anxious at the plate and kind of jumping out of their shoes," Reading said.. "They need to do a better job of using their baseball IQ and adjusting at the plate. We need to take some more pitches and be a bit more patient at the plate in order to get some more runners on base."It's was a great baseball game and a walk-off win is always nice."Lehighton 000 000 0 - 0 6 0Tamaqua 000 000 1 - 1 2 0Hartung, Minchoff (5) and Roberts; Hill, Rossino (6) and Thatcher. W - Hartung. L - Hill. HR - Tamaqua: Kosciolek (7th, none on).