Javy DeJesus threw the latest gem Wednesday.

The junior right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning as the first-place Marauders remained unbeaten in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West play with a 7-3 victory over rival Fredonia.

“It means a lot. It keeps the momentum going,” DeJesus said about beating the Hillbillies. “We’re undefeated in the league right now so we have to keep it going.”

Fredonia had plenty of base runners through the first six innings, but no hits. Then on DeJesus’ 102nd pitch of the game, Dom Gullo hit a clean single up the middle into center field.

Above, Dunkirk’s Alex Ahlstrom slides safely into second base with a stolen base as Fredonia’s Alex Rush applies a late tag and Owen Rush looks on during Wednesday’s CCAA Division 1 West game at Fredonia High School.

“I had no idea he had a no-hitter going on,” Dunkirk head coach Frank Jagoda said.

DeJesus walked the next man up, Nick Frazier, and was pulled from the game after reaching his pitch limit.

“I didn’t know until they took me out,” DeJesus said of the potential no-hitter.

Mike Porpiglia relieved and gave up an RBI single to Joey Gullo before getting a strikeout and a foul pop out behind home plate to complete the two-hitter.

“We’ve done this quite a few times this year,” Jagoda said of his pitching staff’s performance. “We expect it now.”

Below, the Marauders’ Scott Korzenski makes a throw to first base.

The Hillbillies actually led after the first inning as a walk and a pair of errors turned into a 2-1 lead.

“When we hit the ball on the ground good things happen,” Fredonia coach Vince Gullo said. “We just didn’t have too many good at-bats until that last inning.”

“It was tough,” DeJesus said of the first couple of innings. “I was hitting them and we made some errors.”

The Marauders tied the game in the second as DeJesus helped himself by walking and stealing second before an RBI single from Bryson Travis.

DeJesus settled in on the mound, facing the minimum number of Hillbillies over the next four innings, helped by a pair of pickoffs by catcher Phil Messina.

“Everybody is comfortable with Phil. He’s the key behind the plate,” Jagoda said of Messina. “He’s our team leader. … They know who the boss is back there. He calls a great game.”

Dunkirk took the lead in the top of the fifth inning as Alex Ahlstrom reached on a one-out error, went to third on Mike Norton’s double and scored on Donovon Lockett’s two-out single.

“Donovon (had been) struggling a little bit at the plate, but he actually had four good at-bats,” Jagoda said. “He lined out in the first inning, he had two base hits and he got on with a bunt.”

The Marauders added another run in the sixth when DeJesus reached on a single to left field, went to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Travis and scored on Ahlstrom’s sacrifice fly to right field.

With the game still in reach in the top of the seventh inning, Fredonia made three errors and those coupled with an RBI single from DeJesus turned into Dunkirk’s final three runs.

“You make a couple of mistakes and it hurts you,” Gullo said. “We try hard and the kids care, so that’s a good thing.”

DeJesus struck out seven, walked one and hit three Hillbillies while allowing the one hit.

“Javy struggled in the first couple of innings, his pitches were up, but he bore down and pitched one heck of a game,” Jagoda said. “He held us in and then we scored some runs.”

In most near no-hitters, one or two defensive plays stand out to preserve the gem. That wasn’t necessarily the case for the Marauders on Wednesday, although every fly ball seemed to turn into a difficult out due to gusty winds at game time.

“If you have a 15 mph wind in Dunkirk, you have 35 or 40 mph here,” Jagoda said. “Every play is an adventure.”

Gabe Schrader pitched well in defeat, throwing five innings and striking out eight while allowing six hits and three walks.

“The good news I suppose is that we’re in games,” Gullo said. “We’re trying really hard to put a pitching staff together.”

Dunkirk will put its perfect league record on the line Friday when it hosts Allegany-Limestone. It will be the Marauders’ fourth game in five days.

“Anytime we get some runs, we’ve been pretty tough in the late innings,” Jagoda said. “We had some clutch hits, we got a lead and we preserved it.”

NOTES: DeJesus had three hits and Lockett had two for Dunkirk. … Jayden Whitfield threw the final two innings for Fredonia, striking out three and allowing two hits. … The Hillbillies are off until they travel to Hamburg on Saturday for a nonleague game.