On a perfect day for baseball, Palmerton’s Cam Pengelly nearly turned in a perfect performance.

With the temperature near 80 on a sunny spring afternoon, the senior pitcher tossed a no-hitter and struck out 15 to lead the Blue Bombers to a 7-0 non-league victory over visiting Tamaqua. Only one Blue Raider player reached base, that coming on an error with two outs in the fifth inning.

“Cam was excellent today,” said Palmerton head coach Tyler Svetik. “We needed a stopper, having lost two games in a row, and he’s our ace for a reason. He was absolutely marvelous today.

“He locates and is hard to hit. He’s a perfectionist on the mound. That’s what we like about him. He doesn’t want to give up anything free or any base runners at all. He’s just a bulldog out there.”

Pengelly fanned the first eight batters he faced, and really had only one ball hit hard off him — a line drive out to center fielder Alex Keiper off the bat of Logan Morgans in the fifth.

And the few times he fell behind — 3-0 counts two times and 3-1 on another occasion — he battled back to record outs.

“Everything was working for me today,” said Pengelly, who threw 89 pitches — 65 for strikes. “I commanded my fastball, I felt like I could locate it anywhere. My slider and my curve ball I felt like I could bury them in counts where I needed to. I just had a lot of command of my pitches today.

“The mindset there (when falling behind) is just get it over the plate. Whatever they do with it there, I have a defense behind me. I just need to know that I have that behind me and I can just battle and throw strikes.”

Pengelly, whose fastball averages in the low to mid 80s, accounted for the game’s first run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning.

With the score still 1-0 in the home third, Chase Wilson came through with a clutch two-run single to extend the margin to 3-0 and give Pengelly a bigger cushion.

“Chase came up big there,” said Svetik. “We’re looking for offense. We’re not exactly lighting the world on fire on offense, so we’re looking for guys who can put the ball in play, and he shortened up there and got a big two-run single.”

“We were only up one there, so those two extra runs really made me feel comfortable on the mound,” added Pengelly. “As a pitcher, you love to see your guys come through on the offensive side.”

Tamaqua mentor Jeff Reading was also hoping his guys would come through at the plate, but his players just couldn’t figure out the Bombers right-hander.

“What can you say,?” said Reading. “The guy went out there, he had command of his pitches, he was right around the strike zone, he pounded the zone, he throws with great velocity, he’s got a slider that’s second to none. Kudos to him, he threw great. He deserves all the accolades he gets for a performance like that.

“Once we had everyone through the lineup once, we said, ‘You all saw him, make adjustments now.’ We wanted everybody to go up there and to choke up and put the ball in play. If you do that, then they have to make the plays ... we had that opportunity to do that, but it really didn’t happen. It was his day. Hats off to a great pitcher.”

That pitcher also did damage at the plate. His bunt single in the fifth was followed by Wilson’s second run-scoring hit to widen the gap to 5-0. Pengelly, who hits from the left side, added a ringing double to left-center in the sixth.

“Honestly, I’ve been struggling at the plate, but something clicked today and I got my mojo up,” said Pengelly, who was 2-for-2 with a walk and hit by pitch. “I felt like I could actually swing the bat and put the bat on the ball today.”

BOMBER BATS ... Palmerton’s Luke Matsko had two hits, stole two bases and scored a run. Gaige McGowan reached base three times with a hit and two walks, and also scored two runs. Wilson ended 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Brady Reph delivered an RBI double.

FIELD ISSUE ... Because of weather conditions this spring, Tamaqua has only been able to practice on its field once this season — obviously an issue for a baseball team. “We’ve practiced on our field one time, that’s it,” said Reading. “We have not had the opportunity to make the throws from distances and so forth, and trying to simulate and do the stuff in the gym it’s not the same.”

UP NEXT ... Palmerton will have nearly a week off, as it doesn’t play again until traveling to Marian on Monday. The Raiders will try to get their first win when they host Blue Mountain on Thursday.

Tamaqua 000 000 0 - 0 0 3

Palmerton 102 112 x - 7 8 1

Hess, Frohnheiser (4) and Witkowski; Pengelly and Ahner. W - Pengelly. L - Hess.

Records: Tamaqua (0-4); Palmerton (5-2).