Thursday’s non-league matchup between Jim Thorpe and Northern Lehigh turned out to be an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel.

Olympian freshman Brody Schrantz and Bulldog sophomore Chris Vargos were both impressive from the mound throughout the blustery afternoon as they consistently pounded the strike zone.

In the end, it was Schrantz and Thorpe that came out on top, 1-0.

“Both teams were kind of in the same boat today. We both had some runners on base at times, but nobody was bringing runs in on either side. That’s also a testament to the pitching today,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Joe Marykwas. “It was great to come away with the win. We’ve been fighting and competing all year.

“But we’re young. We start five sophomores, and we started a freshman on the mound. But today, I think we learned a lot. If you make a mistake, you move on to the next play and get out of the inning - and that’s what we did.”

Thorpe was able to do that a few times thanks in large part to Schrantz’s ability to locate pitches. He finished the game with 12 strikeouts, and didn’t allow a hit in six innings of work.

On the offensive end, Thorpe was able to get leadoff hits from Cole Lazorick and Schrantz in the first and second innings, but couldn’t generate much from those opportunities.

The Bulldogs best chance to score came in the third inning. A hit batter and an error led to Northern Lehigh having runners at second and third with no outs. But Schrantz got out of the jam, striking out the next two batters before getting the final out of the inning on a nice defensive play by Nik Schwartz.

“I felt pretty good and on-point to start the game, and that gave me confidence as the game went on,” said Schrantz. “Our guys were making some nice plays in the field too, which always gives a pitcher confidence. The curve ball was my best pitch today, especially if I got two strikes on the batter.

“Getting out of that third inning was big. After we got out of that, I thought we could make some plays moving forward to get the win and we were able to do that. Hopefully, we can use this as a boost to keep playing better.”

Matt Domski jump-started the Olympians’ offense in the fifth inning when he came through with a one-out double. A bloop single to center field from Jack Edwards eventually got the run across.

Schrantz continued to pitch well, as he shut down the Bulldogs in the fifth and sixth innings, collecting three more strikeouts in the process.

Lazorick, a hard-throwing sophomore, entered in the seventh for Thorpe and got two ground outs and a fly out to close out the game.

“There was great pitching and great defense on both sides today. We had second and third a few times and a hard hit ball there in the third inning, but that’s baseball,” said Northern Lehigh coach Gerald Kresge. “We’ve been in almost every game this season. The guys have battled hard, they have had great attitudes.

“We’re just still working on some of the little details. We’re competing every day and that’s the key. Now, we just need to work hard to take that next step.”

DUEL … As impressive as Schrantz was, Vargos wasn’t too far behind. The Bulldog hurler went seven innings, giving up six hits and one run on an impressively-low pitch count of just 67 pitches.

AT THE PLATE … For Thorpe, Schrantz led the way with two hits. Lazorick, Domski, Edwards and Owen Hubbard also collected hits. For NL, Vargos singled against Lazorick in the seventh for its lone hit.

THE RECORDS … With the win, the Olympians improved to 2-8, while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-7.

Jim Thorpe 000 010 0 - 1 6 3

No. Lehigh 000 000 0 - 0 1 2

Vargos and B. Buskirk; Schrantz, Lazorick (7) and MoDavis. W-Schrantz. L-Vargos.