NBC championship week starts with 16 innings of zeroes

The first game of the second week of the National Baseball Congress World Series lasted long enough for Trevor Abrams to remember how many times he had failed.

The San Diego Force left fielder contributed to Saturday afternoon’s game against the Colorado Sox lasting 17 innings by going hitless in his first six at-bats. He also was directly responsible for the game stopping after 17.

Abrams’ two-out RBI single finally plated a run and San Diego scored two more in the top of the 17th to win 3-0 at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. It took a while, but the Force rewarded a pitching staff, including starter Dalton Shelberg, that allowed four hits in 53 at-bats.

“I just told myself to not even think,” Abrams said. “I just tried to be as relaxed as possible. I had six or seven at-bats before that, so by that time I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been up here before so why not try to get it done now.’ ”

Shelberg, who recently finished his career at New Mexico State after pitching for Garden City Community College and Lakin High, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He was so efficient that he outlasted regulation, pitching 10 scoreless innings and allowing one hit with eight strikeouts.

Shelberg, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, was so effective that it may have slowed his own offense into a slumber. The Force had several chances to score while collecting 15 hits but struggled to muster productivity against Taylor Dye and Kris Lalk, who pitched the final 10 innings.

“That’s a trap that you don’t want to fall into, for sure,” Abrams said. “When your pitchers are going like that, you get lulled out there. I think I got one ball in left field. It was fun to watch them just compete like that.”

Connor McLaughlin and George Navadel combined to pitch the final seven innings for San Diego. Colorado twice got a runner to third base.

“Our pitchers gave us a shot,” Abrams said. “I know we had so many opportunities to score and we didn’t end up taking advantage of it. But Dalton Shalberg, are you kidding me? That guy threw up ten zeroes and guys coming out of the (bullpen) not expecting to throw that many innings. It was unreal.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "NBC championship week starts with 16 innings of zeroes."