The Utica baseball team (3-2) bounced back from a tough low scoring loss to Big Walnut with a 9-5 victory over Zanesville led by a no hit effort on the hill for Chase Bennett over five and two-thirds innings.

Bennett took the hill to start the Redskins and despite the no hitter, he allowed three unearned runs in the game. He also struck out two and walked four batters.

Aidyn Burgess went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and smashed a double for the lone extra-base hit of the day for the Redskins. Gavin Chinn went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs. Roman Gamble didn’t have a hit in the win, but he did drive in a pair of runs. Gavin Tussey also had an RBI for Utica in the win.

Utica started off the season with a tough 12-1 loss to Lancaster, but then followed with a 10-0 blowout win of their own over Worthington Christian where Chinn singled twice and scored twice. At Big Walnut they lost 2-1 in a game where they allowed the runs in the first inning but pitching the rest of the way kept them in the game. The win against Big Zanesville got the Redskins back to .500, and put them at 1-0 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.

The Redskins followed with a 2-1 win over the Philo Electrics on April 6. Utica had eight hits on the day, and Tyler Collura was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Bennett was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Tussey also had a 2-for-4 showing. Chinn was 1-for-2 and stole three bases.

Connor Staugh was a force on the mound going all seven innings, allowing three hits, one earned run and two walks, while striking out seven.