The Thunder convincingly clinched first place the Heinrich Leauge’s regular-season title July 15 with a 14-3 win at Holcom over their rivals, the Durham Bulls.

After an extra-inning loss to the Bulls the previous week, the Thunder weren’t taking any chances this time around, controlling the action from start to finish. Starting pitcher Derek Lederer threw four strong innings, with the hard-throwing Zach Durr coming in to wrap things up in the fifth and final inning.

After the game, Thunder coach Rick Weaver spoke about the seesaw battle between the two teams over the course of the season.

“We’re pretty evenly matched,” Weaver said. “We’ve had two or three good games with these guys. We were fortunate to have a couple hops go our way.”

The Bulls got a break in the top of the first inning, when starting pitcher Nate Cooper picked off Aaron Karlin at third base with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Lederer walked one and struck out two in the bottom of the frame to keep the game scoreless.

Dan Glover started off the Thunder half of the second inning with a single. After walks to Anthony Ciambrone and Camden Schwartz, Durr delivered a bases-loaded double to score Glover and Ciambrone and put the Thunder up, 2-0.

The Bulls answered with one run in the bottom of the inning, with Logan Braden singling then stealing second and third bases. Spencer Lamborn scored Braden with a single, before Lederer struck out Josh Blaisdell to end the inning.

The Thunder went up 5-1 in the top of the third inning when Luke Weaver and Jake Enick came around to score on a ground-ball single by Ciambrone.

The Bulls made up some ground in the bottom of the frame when Tyler Click walked and stole second and third bases. After Lederer struck out two batters, Lance Lamborn singled to bring Click home. It looked like the Bulls would get another run when Kyle Grimes drilled a pitch up the first base line, but first baseman Durr caught the ball in the air to end the inning.

Bulls third baseman Tyler Click gets ready to tag out Thunder baserunner Jake Enick during their Heinrich League game. The Thunder defeated the Bulls 14-3 July 15 at Holcom.

The Thunder continued to apply pressure in the top of the fourth inning.

Karlin and Weaver got on the base paths with hits, and Karlin scored on a base hit by Enick. Lederer doubled to the opposite field to score Karlin. Ben Smith came in to pitch in relief, getting the final two outs of the inning.

The Bulls displayed some good defense in the inning. Second baseman Tyler Mattan made a stop on a tough ground ball and threw to first base for the first out of the inning. Center fielder Spencer Lamborn also caught a drive to the deepest part of the ballpark off the bat of Glover.

Mattan and Spencer Lamborn combined in the bottom of the inning to produce the Bulls’ third run of the game, when Lamborn singled to score Mattan.

The Thunder put the game out of reach in the fifth inning with Schwartz, Karlin, Weaver, Lederer and Glover all scoring runs for the final 11-run margin.

The devastating inning did have one high point for the Bulls, as center fielder Spencer Lamborn cut down Durr at the plate trying to score on a hit by Karlin.

Durr came in to pitch the fifth inning and almost single-handedly closed out the victory for the Thunder. After striking out Pete Newman looking, Durr made a fine play on Cooper’s ground ball, his throw beating the runner by a step at first base.

When Durr struck out Darrell Coulter swinging to end the game, the Thunder players swarmed the field to celebrate their first-place finish.

The Bulls will now try to regroup and come back in the league playoffs, where they may get another shot at the Thunder.

“Against a team like that, if you make mental mistakes, it will kill you every time,” Bulls coach George Norton said. “The Thunder played a great ball game.”