Cheered on by excited spectators and parents, Aaron Akin, junior, threw the first no-hitter in a decade, and the fourth at MHS, at the varsity baseball game against Northwest High School on Friday, March 29.
“It was a really special moment,” Akin said. “I was proud of myself.”
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which the pitcher doesn’t give up a single hit. Akin said most players don’t practice specifically for no-hitters.
“You kind of just prepare to pitch as your best and do your best each game,” Akin said. “That’s what I tried to do and it worked out well.”
John Meyer, head baseball coach, said throwing a no-hitter is rare in high school baseball. Meyer said the in-game atmosphere was competitive but overall positive.
“As the game starts to build around the third or fourth inning, I think most people quietly know what’s happening and what’s at stake,” Meyer said.
Meyer talked to Akin between innings encouraging him to just keep throwing strikes, get ahead of hitters and focus on the lead-off out. Meyer said Akin didn’t recognize he was throwing a no-hitter during the game.
“That played a role in being able to pull it off because you’re not even distracted by it,” Meyer said. “You’re just competing and trying to get hitters out.”
A key part of completing a no-hitter is the defense, Meyer said. Left-fielder Jake Miller, senior, made a sliding catch along the left-field line to save a hit and the no-hitter, and Meyer said it was a defining moment of the game.
“[The defense] gets locked in and they don’t want to be the guy that keeps it from happening,” Meyer said.
Ryan Heil, senior, was Akin’s catcher during the game last Friday. He said the no-hitter could be great for Akin’s baseball career.
“It gets his confidence way up which is really good for him,” Heil said. “It could allow him later in the season to better develop.”
Heil said he looks forward to the team continuing to play good games for the rest of the season.
“We were struggling before that, but now I think we’re all on the same page,” Heil said. “We’ve seen what success looks like on the field.”
Varsity Baseball will play Parkway West at home today at 4:30 p.m.
