The Watertown Rams defeated the Elmira Pioneers, 13-0 on Friday night. While the offense did erupt for thirteen runs, the story of the game for Watertown was starter Dalton D’Spain.

The right-hander tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit and striking out three batters in the process. D’Spain walked one batter and faced just two batters above the minimum 27.

D’Spain, from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, moved to 1-1 on the season for the Rams and lowered his ERA to 3.05. At Texas &M-Corpus Christi this past season, D’Spain went 1-0 in 21 appearances with an ERA of 3.73. 

The shutout was the first nine-inning complete-game shutout in the PGCBL since Newark Pilot starter Dan Gautieri shutout Watertown on July 21, 2013. In that game, however, Gautieri allowed six hits and went seven batters over the minimum compared to D’Spain’s two.

The Ram offense scored four runs in the fifth and the ninth and added five runs in the sixth to give D’Spain a cushion he wouldn’t need.

Nick Moore singled home the first two runs in the fifth, Drew Hercik added an RBI single and Jason Scholl brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. In the sixth, Hercik added an RBI on a sacrifice fly, Jason Scholl double in two runs, and two runs scored via error. The scoring concluded in the ninth on a Josh Hassell groundout, a Charles Leblanc 2-RBI single, and a Ben Wylly single.

After the Rams scored four runs in the ninth, D’Spain promptly returned to the mound and only allowed a base runner on an error. He got TJ Dixon to fly out to left field to end the game and earned his first shutout in the PGCBL.