Staff photo / Dan Hiner East Palestine pitcher Shane Newman delivers during the first inning of Thursday’s game against Chaney at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

STRUTHERS — Shane Newman allowed a hit to the first batter he faced. But after that, he shut down the Chaney lineup.

Behind Newman’s pitching performance, the East Palestine baseball team beat Chaney 12-1 on Thursday at Bob Cene Park to win its second straight game.

Newman struck out 10 in a one-hit, five-inning complete game.

“As soon as I got the first inning over, I really just felt the confidence,” Newman said.

The Bulldogs (2-3) got the first two runners on via a walk and single in the top of the second. Luke Kinkead and Mason Gorby advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, and Kinkead scored on a balk. Gorby then came across on an error to extend the East Palestine lead to 2-0 with two outs.

Clark Rutledge, Kealin Simon and Brad Bartels each scored on wild pitches in the third. Then Gorby added an RBI single to left to score Kinkead. Groby scored on a dropped third strike with one out to make it a 7-0 game.

“We try to implement this element of ‘Every pitch, every out, every inning,’ and that’s one thing that we’re trying to get these guys to do,” Chaney head coach Eric Gruber said. “They come out ready to play, but it’s really about maintaining that consistent mental aspect of the game. It’s probably one of the biggest things that a lot of these players have to learn how to do, just learn how to play the game the right way mentally, because everything is done upstairs.”

The Bulldogs added two more runs on a wild pitch in the fourth to extend the lead to 9-0.

The Cowboys (0-1) got on the board in the home half of the fourth when Isaac Moon walked and stole second. He scored when Porter Wilson hit a groundball that bounced off the defender’s glove and into right field.

Simon hit a one-out triple to right-center field in the top of the fifth. Then Bartels hit a bloop single into left-center to drive in Simon.

Bartels scored on a two-out error to put East Palestine up 11-1 and in position for the run-rule. And Gorby added some cushion after scoring on a wild pitch.

“We started off sluggish,” East Palestine head coach Aaron Walker said. “Our hitters were a little anxious at the plate, didn’t get themselves into good counts. I just told them (to) be patient, get their pitches. And they drew some walks and got some timely hits.”

Wilson took the loss. He allowed seven runs in two-plus innings of work in the start for the Cowboys.

Chaney is behind a lot of teams in the area in a couple of different ways. First, the Cowboys only have a few returning starters from last year’s squad. And second, they haven’t been on the field. Thursday’s loss was their first complete game of the season.

“We lost six seniors last year. Five of them were pitchers of ours, so we are coming back very young,” Gruber said. “We are coming back very inexperienced, but the one thing I will say is they come out every day, and they try to get better each and every day.”

Meanwhile, East Palestine is gaining some steam.

The Bulldogs picked up their first win of the season after outlasting Columbiana 17-16 on Wednesday. After starting the season 0-3, they are nearing the .500 mark with a group that doesn’t have a senior on the roster.

“We’re a young team, so for a lot of them, this is their first year playing high school varsity baseball,” Walker said. “Getting two wins in a row builds our confidence. It definitely helps.”