Third Time’s a Charm
Posted by Matt Sisson on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 1:04 am
Baseball is a beautiful sport. There’s a choreography and rhythm to the sport, something that’s familiar in legend that may not be familiar in reality. Sometimes things happen that a fan who’s six years old may see for the first time in their life and it may also be the first a fan who’s 86 may see the same event. Today we saw our third cycle of the season. Ian Kinsler, Orlando Hudson, & Jason Kubel have all completed the single, double, triple, home run necessary components of the quad-fector. For as far as I’ve been following the sport, I can’t remember this happening ever before. Something that’s a bit more amazing in the tri-fector category was called out earlier today in Brian’s post about Patrick Schuster. In case you haven’t been following high school sports, Schuster has pitched 3 consecutive no hitters. Think about that for a minute…3 consecutive no hitters. An amazing accomplishment.
From the BobsBlitz blog:
HS Baseball – Schuster Hurls 3 No Hitters in a Row
Patrick Schuster, University of Florida signee, threw his 3rd (yes, third) consecutive no-hitter for JW Mitchell High School against Clearwater Central Catholic. Schuster also struck out 16 CCCs…
Schuster trys for consec No. 4 April 20th at home against Pasco High.
No truth to the rumor that CC Sabathia is considering changing his name to CCC – Sabathia though he is sticking with XXXL pants.
Awful Yankee joke’s aside, Schuster’s accomplishments are pretty amazing. When asked about his approach, Schuster replied, “I never go up there thinking that a kid’s going to get a hit off me,” Schuster’s no hitter success is described as:
The 6-foot-2 left-hander from J.W. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, Fla., has thrown three consecutive no-hitters and will take the field Monday against his school’s rival to try to extend the streak.
Schuster fired a complete game no-hitter in a 2-1 victory over Land O’ Lakes on April 3. He threw another no-hitter April 8 at River Ridge in a game that ended after the fifth inning under a mercy rule with Mitchell leading 10-0. Schuster then no-hit Clearwater Central Catholic on Monday in a 2-0 victory.
Schuster, who is 7-0 with a 0.66 ERA this season, also threw the first six innings of a combined no-hitter to open the season Feb. 17.
He credits his success to luck, confidence and aggressiveness. But his 92 mph fastball might have something to do with it as well.
It’s a great story one that can only be described by a coach, Coach Wilcox had this to say, “He just has the natural ability,” Wilcox said. “I mean, this kid was born to be a pitcher.”
Born to be a pitcher…must be an amazing title to have.
