Coleman’s no-hit bid ends with 2 out in 7th, but Zebras break 6-game skid

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Coleman

SOUTH WHITLEY — Rochester junior Brady Coleman had not pitched in a game in 10 days, and he said his arm felt great as he returned to the mound against host Whitko Tuesday.

He showed off his rejuvenated arm by pitching perhaps the best game of his career and flirting with the single-game accomplishment that all pitchers dream of in a 7-2 win.

Coleman came within an out of a no-hitter before eventually settling on a combined two-hitter with Brant Beck.

Rochester snapped a six-game losing streak and improved to 11-15 overall and 4-4 in the Three Rivers Conference. Five of the losses during the streak came against teams with winning records.

Whitko dropped to 11-10, 2-6.

Coleman walked three and struck out 10 in a 118-pitch outing. Beck retired the only batter he faced on a grounder to second to end the game.

“It looked like he was throwing harder the later in the game we got,” Rochester coach Cory Good said. “You know, it’s kind of the same M.O. with a lot of these guys. We’ve got a lot of guys who can pitch for us. We’re trying to space guys out a little bit and give them enough time to recoup and figure out where things lay here for next weekend. I’m really proud of the way he came out and pitched. We’ve been waiting for a moment to put him out there to challenge him a little bit. That’s a good baseball team with five freshmen in their lineup, but they’re solid baseball players.”

Coleman got Chandler Cox on a liner to second and struck out Hunter Long to start the seventh. He walked Chase Miller on a 3-2 pitch. Miller advanced to second on an error.

Crew Ebbinghouse got the first hit and also drove in the first run with a single. Ebbinghouse advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Daton Day’s RBI single.

Coleman’s day on the mound was over. 

He wore glasses to protect his eyes. He missed a game last week due to what he said was an ulcer in his eye that impaired his vision.

As a result, he had not pitched since a 4-2 loss to Tippecanoe Valley May 9. 

“It still feels great after this,” Coleman said. “After my ulcer in my eye, it really set me back for pitching because I was scheduled to pitch last week, but since the doc told me to limit myself for baseball, I told them I wasn’t able to pitch until today, (and) my arm feels great.”

Offensively, the Zebras relied on Beck’s RBI single in the second in carrying a 1-0 lead into the sixth.

Then they scored six runs. The rally included an RBI groundout from Callen Ferverda and back-to-back-to-back hits with men in scoring position from Carson Paulik, Zakk Parks and Linden Wilburn.

“Just good approaches," Good said. “We hit the ball right on the screws early in the game right at people. And then they started to fall late. I think we banged out 11 hits today, something we’ve been needing here for awhile.”

That was more than enough run support for Coleman. He retired 14 consecutive batters prior to Miller’s walk.

He said his sinker was especially effective. He likes using it to get in on the hands of right-handed hitters.

“I felt great going into that inning,” Coleman said. “I already knew that I had a no-hitter going, but it just got to the best of me. And it really put around hits on me. It’s been seven long innings, and they got on my fastball there. It had definitely slowed down.”

Rochester 7, Whitko 2

Rochester 010 006 0 – 7 11 2

Whitko 000 000 2 – 2 2 2

WP – Brady Coleman (7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K)

LP – Cooper Laukhuf (5 ⅔ IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K)

2B – Brady Coleman (RHS), Carson Paulik (RHS)