Let me paint you the picture: it’s Monday, back from Spring Break, not a single kid played a minute of baseball over that week-long period, and we have a game that day. As a manager, what do you do in that situation? I’ll tell you what decision manager Hank Pankratz made, the correct one. Early in the morning, he came up to The Hebrew Hammer and said, “Aye kid, you’re on the bump today.” As I shuddered with glee, I proceeded to stop smiling, and it was time to prepare myself for the grueling challenge that was Newbury Park Adventist Academy later that day. On the ride over the hill to NPAA, I had my headphones on full blast, helping tune into that state of flow. When it was game time, they had scored an early run on me from two errors. But errors or not, I put my head down and got to work, I struck out 17 hitters with my furious fastball and my catastrophic curveball, the other 4 outs, you ask? All made by me, 2 groundballs at me, one pickoff beautifully executed by Cole Huey and me, and one insane play where I ran all the way past first base to field the ball and flip it for the out. All that while only allowing 1 walk, 1 batter hit, a handful of errors, but ultimately no hits allowed, my first no-hitter of the year, and my 3rd in high school. The Spuds found themselves triumphant in a 4-1 win, followed by a 19-2 win on Wednesday against Hillcrest Christian. What a week for the fellas. And following in the footsteps of my mentor before me, Derek Mendoza, I kept the tradition alive of no-hitting Newbury! Go Spuds, baby.