HAGERSTOWN, Md. — After the Piedmont Boll Weevils lost for the sixth time in seven
games on Wednesday night, manager Ken Oberkfell said that his team just wasn’t a very
good one at the moment.His
words had their intended effect, firing up at least one of the Weevils — pitcher Brad
Baisley.
The 6-foot-9 right-hander jumped
off the bus after the Weevils’ seven-hour trip to Hagerstown and promptly hurled a
no-hitter, setting down the Suns in blazing fashion.
Piedmont won 3-0, as Baisley
fanned 12 and walked four. The Weevils made one error behind him on a slow roller to
third.
“They only hit one hard ball
and (Carlos) Acevedo made a great catch in right field,” Boll Weevils manager Ken
Oberkfell said.
Baisley, Philadelphia’s third
pick in the 1998 draft, allowed only four fly balls. In addition to the 12 Ks, he got 11
outs via grounders. But it took a lot of pitches for Baisley to complete the no-hitter and
improve to 10-7 on the season.
“He threw 130 and was getting
to the point where we were thinking hard,” Oberkfell said. “A no-hitter is
great, but we also need his arm the rest of the season.”
But Baisley put his coach at ease
by getting the Suns 1-2-3 in the ninth.
His no-hitter was only the second
in Boll Weevil history. Rob Burger tossed the first one against Augusta on April 30, 1996.
Baisley, who will turn 20 in a
couple of weeks, pitched his gem against the team with the best overall record in the
South Atlantic League (71-46).
“He’s been throwing
great since the first month of the season,” Oberkfell said. “He did a tremendous
job, especially against a great hitting ballclub. He flat out shut them down. He was
dominating.”
Piedmont (22-23 second half,
58-58) got all three of its runs in the first inning when Alejandro Giron, Eric Schreimann
and Shayne Carnes reached in front of a bases-clearing double by Baisley’s
batterymate Jeremy Salazar.
Giron wound up with three of the
Weevils’ six hits.
Baisley’s masterpiece took
just less than two hours to complete. A smallish Municipal Stadium crowd of 1,265
witnessed the history-making night.
n
NOTES : The teams play again
tonight, with Carlos Silva pitching for Piedmont. ... Weevil oufielder Jason Johnson
continued his awful slump with an 0-for-4 outing ... Schreimann was hit twice by pitches.
... Baisley has 107 Ks on the season. ... Ambiorix Reyes returned to shortstop after being
the third Weevil to be struck down by chicken pox in recent weeks. |
Today's News
