text: LEGION: Hamilton gets 16 hits to support Raab's no-hitter vs. Trenton | NJ.com
  LEGION: Hamilton gets 16 hits to support Raab's no-hitter vs. Trenton
  on June 26, 2012 at 11:17 PM, updated June 26, 2012 at 11:21 PM
  Martin Griff/The TimesCarston Raab threw a five-inning no-hitter yesterday to lead Hamilton Post 31 to a victory over Trenton Post 93/182 in Mercer County American Legion League action.
  TRENTON — The crowd on hand for Hamilton Post 31's game with Trenton Post 93/182 witnessed 17 runs on 16 hits at Wetzel Field yesterday — all by Hamilton.
  The Hamilton bats struck early and often, starting pitcher Carston Raab threw a five-inning no-hitter, and Hamilton torched Trenton, 17-0.
  "Yeah, that was pretty good," Post 31 manager Rick Freeman said. "I thought we were pretty good in all phases of the game. We played clean defense — we haven't done that in a while; Carston threw really well, and the offense attacked right from the get-go."
  Center fielder James Locklear led off the game with a bang, clobbering a pitch well over the fence in right. But, before going out, the ball grazed some tree branches that reach over the fence and onto the field of play, and it was therefore called a ground-rule double.
  But it didn't matter. Eddie Ashley's single and Brock Podgurski's double drove in Locklear all the same. And whenr Raab's sacrifice fly was followed by Lyle Meister's RBI single, Ashley and Podgurski also scored.
  With a 3-0 lead, Meister and P.J. Wiegartner came home on four consecutive walks, and the bases were still jammed. That's when Ashley, in his second at-bat of the opening frame, delivered the kill shot.
  The rising Steinert High senior ripped a two-out offering to straightaway center, unloading the bases with a three-RBI triple to make it 8-0.
  "The first pitch we saw that's in there, we wanted to hit," said Ashley, who had four RBIs and two runs scored. "We swung at a lot of good pitches, and we hit the crap out of the ball." Locklear finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, four RBIs, and two runs scored while outfielder Adam Koval was 3-for-3 also with two doubles, three RBIs, and three runs scored.
  Conversely, Raab didn't let Trenton get a whiff of a base hit. While his no-no might've gone slightly unrecognized because of its completely unnecessary nature, the big right-hander struck out six while walking one and plunking two batters.
  "I just went after kids," Raab said. "Sometimes it works out like that. They hit it right to your defense, you make good pitches, get some strikeouts when you need to, and it falls into place."
  The recent Steinert grad is now 4-1 on the mound this summer.
  "Good pitchers work off of their fastballs," he said. "You try to get ahead with it, get in their minds that the hard stuffs coming, and then throw some good off-speed stuff and breaking balls. That's what I was able to do."
  Raab was never threatened even after hitting the first batter he faced and walking the second. Trenton's No. 9 hitter didn't even get two at-bats.
  "He's been throwing the ball really well, obviously you never expect a no-hitter," Freeman said. "You score 17 runs from time to time, but no-hitters are rare."
  Hamilton 17, Trenton 0
  Hamilton Post 31 (8-4)	821 33x x —17 16 0
  Trenton Post 93/182 (2-9) 000 00x x — 0 0 1
  2B — H: Locklear 2, Koval 2, Podgurski, Raab. 3B — H: Ashley, Mastrangelo, Meister. WP — Raab (4-1). LP — Roldan (0-2).