LYLE -- Lyle/Pacelli senior Nels Nelson threw his first career no-hitter and confirmed his team's place atop the Southeast Conference standings in a 7-0 victory over visiting LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow Thursday afternoon.

"It's a good feeling," Nelson said of the no-hitter. "I've been close before, but I've never been able to put it all together. Today everything was working for me."

Nelson struck out eight of 10 batters he faced at least once each, including six straight during a stretch and 12 for the game. The Lyle/Pacelli defense behind him committed just one error and the offense rattled off all seven runs in the first three innings.

"We'll take the no-hitter," said L/P coach Steve Baumann, "but we'll take a win any way we can get it. This was a very important game because they are in our way as far as any chance of a conference title."

Baumann could not recall a no-hitter ever being pitched in his 26 years at the helm of Lyle/Pacelli baseball.

Nelson was working with a week's rest after last Thursday's doubleheader split at Spring Grove. L/P (8-1, 5-1) had Monday's twinbill with Mabel-Canton postponed to next Tuesday and is now scheduled to play five games next week.

"It's a lot different than last year," Nelson said. "We've already more than doubled our win total from last year. We were a little rattled after the Spring Grove game and we were wondering if we would be able to recover from that."

Nelson moved his season record to 5-0 despite walking three and beaning another. LOGM (5-4, 4-3) lefty Jacob Rowe took the loss, allowing 11 hits and six earned runs. He walked four and struck out four.

Peter Korfhage led the Lyle/Pacelli offense with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including a run-scoring single in the first and a two-run single in the second. Josh Baumann was 2-2 with a double, two runs and two RBIs. Baumann reached base in all four plate appearances. Alex Halbach was 2-4.

Seven different players had at least one hit for L/P, which next plays Monday at Houston. Tuesday's double-dip with Mabel-Canton starts at 4:30 p.m. at Marcusen Park.

Linescore:

LOGM0000000--001

Lyle/Pacelli232000x--7112

Jacob Rowe and Anthony Stejskal; Nels Nelson and Josh Kreuger. WP--Nelson (5-0). LP--Rowe. 2B--L/P: Baumann, Blaser.