Waterford’s Hayden Jones dives headfirst into home plate as Belpre catcher Carson Woodford fields a throw during Tuesday’s game. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

WATERFORD — Over their winning streak that had stretched to four games heading into Tuesday night’s Tri-Valley Conference game against Belpre, the Waterford Wildcats have been playing some pretty darn good baseball.

The Wildcats may have taken things to another level and played their very best game of the season in all facets Tuesday as they routed Belpre 10-0 in five innings to increase their winning streak to five.

Starting pitcher Braun Doak fired a no-hitter and faced the minimum number of batters in his five innings of work, while his teammates provided him with more than enough offense and defense to improve their season record to 6-3.

“Braun (Doak) really filled it up tonight and you don’t get no-hitter’s every night,” said Waterford head coach Chris Schmitt, noting that Doak threw just 51 pitches with 36 of them being for strikes. “We’ve won five in a row now and we are on a little heater. We’ve got a big one coming up on Thursday so we’ve got to keep it rolling.”

Belpre lead-off batter Warren Davis was nicked by a pitch from Doak to open the game but was quickly removed with a caught stealing in the opening inning.

The Wildcats went right to work off of Belpre starting pitcher AJ Copen in the bottom of the first when shortstop Hayden Jones led off with a triple to deep right field.

Jones came in to score on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Avery Pottmeyer for the game’s first run.

Both teams went quietly in the second inning before Doak struck out the side in the top of the third.

The Wildcats would break things open in the bottom of the third as they would bat around and score five times off of Copen.

Center fielder Kam Johnson got things started by drawing a walk and Jones reached base on an infield error by the Eagles.

Pottmeyer bunted into a fielder’s choice with Johnson being thrown out at third base but Doak helped himself with an RBI double to increase the lead to 2-0.

Copen got Henry Huffman to ground out for the second out of the inning but second baseman Corbin Stark came through with a two-run single to increase the lead to 4-0.

Cole Mullenix and Wes Fairchild followed with back-to-back RBI doubles as the Wildcats pulled out to 6-0 lead.

During the current hot streak, the Wildcats have been getting offense from almost everyone in their lineup and it was no exception against Belpre.

“The bottom of our order was struggling early but they have figured it out and when the bottom gets rolling it sets up our top,” said Schmitt. “When we put the ball in play we run well and we do the little things right and good things happen for us.”

Doak got a little help from his friends in the top of the fourth.

Left-fielder Mullenix made a spectacular sliding catch in foul ground for the second out of the fourth inning and on the very next hitter first baseman Huffman made an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch on a foul ball off of the bat of Copen.

Doak was quite appreciative of the performance of the Wildcat defense behind him.

“The defense played a great game behind me and I had confidence that if they hit it we were going to make the plays,” said a modest Doak. “I couldn’t have done it tonight without our guys playing great defense and hitting the baseball and scoring 10 runs.”

The Wildcats added two more runs off of Copen in the bottom of the fourth as Jones’ second triple of the game plated one run and he came in to score on an infield groundout by Pottmeyer to increase the lead to eight.

Doak issued a one-out walk to Belpre catcher Carson Woodford in the top of the fifth, but once again got an assist from the Wildcat defense to get out of the inning.

Joey Lockhart hit perhaps the hardest ball of the game for Belpre, but it was a line drive right at Jones at shortstop who fired a strike to Huffman at first to double up Woodford and end the inning.

Waterford would bring an early end to the game in the last of the fifth against Davis, who had come on in relief of Copen.

Mullenix led off the inning with his third base hit of the game. After he stole second, Mullenix scored on a single by Fairchild.

One out later, Johnson doubled and after Belpre intentionally walked Jones, Pottmeyer brought in the 10th and final run of the game when he blooped a single into right field to plate Fairchild with the game-ending run.

The Wildcat offense pounded out 12 base hits in the game, including multi-hit games by Mullenix, Jones, Fairchild and Johnson while playing error-free baseball.

Doak fanned six on his way to recording his first varsity no-hitter.

“I threw a lot of fastballs and kept throwing strikes — that was the main thing,” said Doak. “We are on a roll and trying to keep the energy up and it’s always a good time with this group of guys.”

Schmitt is pleased with the way his team is jelling prior to the halfway point in the season and is quite optimistic about what the future holds for his team.

“It’s amazing what confidence does for us,” said Schmitt, whose team will host Eastern on Thursday in a pivotal TVC contest. “This team is together and I think that is what we have been missing the last couple of years and guys are out there for each other and not just for themselves.”

Belpre slipped to 1-9 with the loss and will travel to Federal Hocking on Thursday.

at Waterford Elementary School

WP: Braun Doak (no-hitter) 5IP, 0H, 1BB, 6SO

LP: AJ Copen 4IP, 8H, 8R, 3ER, BB, 5 SO

Warren Davis 1/3 IP, 4H, 2ER, BB, SO

Leading hitters

Belpre (1-9): Warren Davis HBP, Carson Woodford BB.

Waterford (6-3): Cole Mullenix 3-3, 2R, RBI, 2B, Hayden Jones 2-3, 3R, RBI, 2 3B, Wes Fairchild 2-3, R, 2RBI, 2B, Kam Johnson 2-2, R, 2B, Avery Pottmeyer 1-3,R, RBI, 2B, Corbin Stark 1-3, R, 2RBI, Braun Doak 1-3, R, RBI, 2B.

Next Games: Thursday, Eastern at Waterford, Belpre at Federal Hocking