Gardner’s No-Hitter Sparks Big Day for A’s
Posted: May 26, 2012
Sheboygan A’s general manager Denny Moyer had a hunch his starting pitcher might throw a no-hitter on Saturday.
His hunch proved prophetic.
Mitch Gardner didn’t give up a hit and Taylor Schwarz drove in a run to hand the A’s a 1-0 win in their season opener at home against the Manistee (Mich.) Saints.
The A’s swept the Saints in the Opening Day doubleheader after winning the second game 5-1. Starter Lucas Wilsing picked up the win on six innings pitching, giving up four hits.
“That was amazing,” Moyer said of Gardner’s no-hitter. “In fact, I called that. The night before in practice, I said, ‘Mitch, I’d like you to get a good workout, I’d like to get five innings out of you — unless you’re throwing a no-hitter or something, and then I’ll let you (stay) in there.’ And then he went and threw a no-hitter. I couldn’t believe it.”
It’s just the ninth time an A’s pitcher has thrown a no-hitter in the team’s 50-year history. It’s Gardner’s second with the team — he threw one last June in a win against Thiensville-Mequon.
“I didn’t think I had my best stuff today,” Gardner said after his win. “I was kind of all over the strike zone.”
The A’s struggled at the plate in Game 1, notching just one run. That came when Schwarz knocked a triple deep into right field in the second inning, bringing in Harry Steldt.
“Taylor’s been around here for a while, so we really expect nothing less out of him,” first-year A’s manager Kyle Trewyn said between games Saturday. “Obviously, he ended up winning us the game with that hit right there.”
The Saints grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2, but the A’s tied the contest in the second and captured the lead with three runs in the third. The A’s tacked on their final run in the fourth.
Sheboygan launched its 50th season Saturday with a pregame brat fry and music performance by the local Buffalo Joe Band at Wildwood Baseball Park. It’s the second year in a row the team has hosted the Opening Day brat fry and concert.
The A’s host the Saints again at 1 p.m. today. Sheboygan is scheduled to play three more games at Wildwood before launching a seven-game road trip in June.
“We’ve got some work to do,” Moyer acknowledged after Saturday’s games. “I thought we should have hit the ball a little better. But we’ll be all right.”
Story by McLean Bennett/Sheboygan Press. Photos by Gary C. Klein/Sheboygan Press.
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.
