Gardner Fires No-Hitter; Grand Opening Saturday
Posted: June 3, 2011
No better script to introduce the Grand Opening of Wildwood Baseball Park could be written than the one Mitch Gardner penned Thursday night.
Gardner fired a no-hitter at the Thiensville-Mequon Twins to guide the Sheboygan A’s to a 7-0 victory.
Seven of his nine innings were perfect. His only flaws were the seventh, when after one out, he walked the bases full before retiring the last two hitters on infield outs – the first a force at home, and the eighth when after two outs he hit batsman resulted in a base runner before he got the third out.
He finished with seven strikeouts, the three walks and the hit batsman.
The A’s broke up the scoreless tie in the fifth, when Taylor Schwarz singled, went to second on an infield out, to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.
Like Gardner, Mike Borens was doing excellent job of keeping bats quiet. But Borens left the game after seven, and the A’s beat up on reliever Carsten Haas for six 8th-inning runs to turn the 1-0 lead into an easy win. Borens struck out eight in his seven innings and gave up five hits.
Harry Steldt led the win with two runs batted in on two hits. Taylor Schwarz contributed two more hits and a run batted in.
Gardner’s no-hitter was the eighth in club history and the first since Cody Griebling no-hit the Kenosha Kings on July 1, 2008. Others on the no-hit honor roll are Geoff Lefeber 2002, Will Madson 1999, Jarred Washburn 1994, Tim Spiro 1992, Arlyn Dombrock 1971 and Al Tetrault 1968.
The A’s have invited the public to help them celebrate the grand opening of the renovated park on Saturday. Festivities begin at noon in the park’s picnic area when the brat fry kicks off, continues at 1:30 when The Buffalo Joe Band begins entertaining and moves inside the park at 3:45 when the ribbon cutting ceremony will take place. At 4 p.m., the A’s, now 2-1 for the season after Gardner’s masterpiece, take on the tough Chicago Clout.
The Sheboygan A's are members of the Wisconsin State League and Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. The A's have helped develop more than 43 players that have reached professional baseball, including 2002 World Series Champion Jarrod Washburn (Anaheim Angels). All Sheboygan A's home games are played at Wildwood Baseball Park in Sheboygan. Connect with the A's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
