CMB pitcher throws no-hitter in defeat

COLLINS — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter's starting pitcher Brady Stover had no idea what he achieved when he walked off the mound after recording the third out in the top of the seventh inning Monday night.

Perhaps it was the troubling fifth inning, the seven walks he issued or the three-run deficit his team faced with three outs to spare that was instead at the front of his mind.

Following a scoreless bottom of the seventh for CMB, Stover owned a rare and bittersweet accomplishment: throwing a no-hitter in a loss.

The right-hander held Class 2A third-ranked Roland-Story hitless in a 3-0 defeat for the Raiders (3-8). It was the first no-hitter Stover has thrown and the first CMB head coach Max Seeman has coached.

"After we got done shaking hands and getting the field ready, coach went up to me and said, did you know you threw a no-hitter? And I was like, no, I did not know at all," Stover said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "It was a complete surprise ... It was like, wow, it didn't seem like it was a no-hitter."

Roland-Story (15-5) scored what became the winning run in the fifth inning following a defensive miscue by the Raiders with runners on first and third. All three Roland-Story runs crossed the plate in the fifth.

"That whole game, I was hitting the zone real well, hitting the inside and outside corners," Stover said. "The fifth inning, I lost myself a little bit and learned to stay calm and let everything happen because I have my defense behind me still, so I just need to stay calm."

The 16-year-old sophomore credited his defense for helping him earn his first no-hitter. He described his effort against one of 2A's top teams as "one of my top-three pitching performances."

For most of Monday night, his coach saw otherwise.

"I would say for six innings, he was the best I've ever seen him," said Seeman, who played college baseball at Central in Pella, Iowa from 2008-12. "...I told him it's not very often you throw a no-hitter and also get the loss.

"I had never seen that before, in playing, coaching or spectating."

Stover flirted with a no-hitter earlier this season when he allowed one hit in a complete-game effort against Greene County on June 4.

He struckout 17 batters that night and followed it up with 15 strikeouts in his next start on June 11 against South Hamilton.

Both of those starts resulted in victories, something Stover's latest performance — his third straight complete game — did not.

"To be honest, I actually never thought about that. I thought I'd throw a no-hitter and we'd win," he said. "I really wish I would've got it (the win), but it's really neat to say that I have one."