April 29, 2011
HS notebook: Maine no-hitter needed clarification
by Roger Brown/
Luke Fernandes was pretty sure he threw a no-hitter in Marshwood High School’s 8-0 triumph over Portland on Tuesday, but he needed confirmation.
There was confusion because one of the three baserunners Fernandes allowed reached base on catcher’s interference, and there was some uncertainty regarding how the play should be scored.
Portland coach Tony DiBiase said he believed the batter is credited with a hit when catcher’s interference occurs. A quick check with the rule book showed that there is no base hit for catcher’s interference, however. Instead the play is scored as an error on the catcher.
“I didn’t know if it was an out or what was going on with that (catcher’s interference),” Fernandes said. “I might have thrown a no-hitter in Little League, but not in high school or Babe Ruth.
“In my bullpen before the game I was working on a changeup and it wasn’t working for me, so I just stuck to a breaking pitch and a fastball for the whole game. I was able to spot my fastball on the inside and outside of the plate and that’s what got me through.”
Fernandes, a junior, struck out nine. He faced two batters over the minimum. Portland’s Joel DiPietro, the player who reached base on catcher’s interference, was thrown out attempting to steal second in the fifth inning.
DiBiase had plenty of praise for Fernandes.
“He was excellent,” DiBiase said. “He’s as good as I’ve seen in the last four or five years. We were just talking about who’s been better.
“He just overpowers people and he doesn’t walk anybody. He’s very good. You don’t see pitchers like that very often around here.”
Fernandes was 2-3 with a 1.55 ERA and a league-high 58 strikeouts last season. He earned the save when Marshwood opened its season with a 5-4 triumph against Bonny Eagle.
“Luke’s off-speed pitch seemed to be crisp, and he was living low,” Marshwood coach Eric Fernandes (Luke’s father) said. “I’ve seen him be that way in a game quite a bit, but I’ve never seen a no-hitter out of him.”
Connecticut
North Haven coach Bob DeMayo can record his 800th career victory when his team plays at Foran on Friday. DeMayo began coaching in 1959, and no high school baseball coach in Connecticut has won more games.
DeMayo-coached teams have won four state championships.
Massachusetts
Buckingham, Browne & Nichols will be without left-handed pitcher Andrew Chin for the rest of the season. Chin, a senior who has committed to Boston College, will undergo Tommy John surgery and isn’t expected to pitch again for at least nine months. As a junior Chin was 7-0 with an ERA of 0.78. He struck out 68 and walked 19 in 45 innings.
New Hampshire
Portsmouth raised its Division II record to 5-0 and stretched the program’s winning streak to 68 games by beating Windham 11-1 Wednesday. Center fielder Aidan O’Leary hit a grand slam in the victory.
Portsmouth’s next test will come Friday, when it plays at Souhegan (2-2).
Rhode Island
Alex Moretti’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh drove in Jeff Diehl with the game-winning runs as Cranston West handed Lincoln its first loss of the season by posting an 8-7 victory Tuesday.
Lincoln (7-1 in Division I) trailed 7-2, but tied the game by scoring five runs in the top of the seventh. Diehl reached base on a walk and then stole second before Moretti delivered the game-winning hit that improved Cranston West’s record to 6-2.
Vermont
Colchester’s Zach Tandy pitched a complete game and held Rice to two hits in an 11-0 victory Wednesday. It was the first loss for Rice (3-1), which entered the season as the favorite in Division I.
Ryan Crowley had four hits – including a home run – and drove in four runs for Colchester, which improved to 2-1.
