Matt Hogan on his no-hitter against Smithtown West pic.twitter.com/FTpv502c4o
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 13, 2018
by Frank Farnacci
Vanderbilt-commit Matt Hogan threw a no-hitter today, leading his Half Hollow Hills East Thunderbirds to a 5-0 win over Smithtown West Bulls.
“I was feeling pretty good, but honestly it was just the defense behind me today. Everyone was making plays. There were no errors in the field,” Hogan said. His humility was admirable considering he struck out eleven with a powerful fast ball and a biting curve ball.
“I’ve seen Matt pitch now for three, four years at the varsity level”, said Hills East Manager Tim Belz. “Today he took a little bit off, pounded the zone, got ahead. It’s one of the best pitching performances I’ve seen from him in the past three years.”
Hogan struck out the side in both the second and third innings while working around walks, and only two Smithtown players made it second base. Smithtown West’s John Pawlowski almost broke up the no-no in the sixth inning when he lined a ball to right field, but Hills East’s right fielder Jacob Brigati made a diving catch to preserve Hogan’s effort.
Warmer weather warmed up Hills East’s bats as they spotted Hogan with a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. With one out Reis Henderson doubled to leftfield. Joe Litchhult singled and subsequently stole second. Then before he could flash his leather in the sixth, Brigati singled to center plating two and advancing to second. He would advance to third on a fielding error and score on a hard ground out off the bat of Jason (JT) Farnacci.
Hills East would add a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Eric Tow, and another in the sixth after Brigati walked, stole second, advanced on a ground out to the right side and scored on a throwing error. In the end though, it was Hogan’s dominating performance culminating with his eleventh strikeout to end the game.
