ST. PAUL — When Tyler Phillips comes back, he comes back in a big way. Phillips suffered a concussion when hit by a pitch in a game against Thomas Walker on May 6. In his first game back, Phillips threw a no-hitter against Twin Springs at Bowman Field on Friday afternoon. It was the first seven-inning no-hitter by a St. Paul pitcher in over 30 years.
“I missed all of last week and just came back to practice on Tuesday,” said Phillips. “I’ve really just rested my arm this week and then came out today and threw as hard as I could.”
Phillips had nothing but success. He didn’t rely on one pitch but mixed a fastball, curve and slider to keep the Twin Springs hitters off balance. He was dominate from the start striking out seven through the first three innings and totaled 11 strikeouts in the 4-0 win. Phillips was aware of the no-no.
“I tried to put it in the back of my mind,” he said. “When you get to thinking about it, you leave one over the plate and someone will hit it out. I just tried to concentrate on the mitt.”
It was the first no-hitter ever for Phillips even including little league and he was a walk away from a perfect game. But a base on balls with one out in the seventh inning ended the perfect game. But Deacon shortstop Dillon Cridlin made a play and a short popup and threw to first for a game ending double play. So Phillips faced the minimum. The hardest hit ball by Twin Springs was a liner to center by Heath Culbertson that was caught by Josh Brooks.
“He just threw it by us,” said first-year Twin Springs coach Mike Castle. “We just flat out couldn’t hit him today, period. Since we lost at Castlewood in the bottom of the seventh, we’ve really been struggling. We’ve had a hard time bouncing back but hopefully we can start a new season Monday.”
The Deacons received the only run they would need in the first inning on a solo homer by Corey Ellis. Matt Dupuie reached on an error in the third and Ellis provided another run with a double in the gap to score Dupuie.
“Ellis has been swinging the bat well,” St. Paul coach Chris Clay said. “I’m tickled with him at the plate. He had been hitting lead-off but I dropped him down in the order so he could drive in some runs. He’s hitting over .500 and he’s been mashing the ball.”
Bryce Lawson had an infield single and ended up scoring on a wild pitch in the fifth. Everything worked for St. Paul including a two out double steal. With courtesy runner Zach Ireson on third, Brooks started to steal second but stopped halfway there. When the Titans tried to get him in a rundown Ireson was able to score an insurance run to give the Deacons a 4-0 advantage.
The Titans Gaven Meade was the hard luck loser on the mound. He only allowed five hits and three of those didn’t leave the infield.
“Meade threw the ball well,” said Clay. “It was a well pitched game on both sides. You don’t see much better than this in high school.
“We needed this win. We had been stuck in a funk and we needed a boost and Phillips gave it to us.”
With the win, St. Paul (8-12, 6-6) secured fourth place in the final Cumberland District standings. They are the defending tournament champions and will host Rye Cove in an opening round game with a 4:30 p.m. start on Monday. Twin Springs (10-9, 5-7) lost a coin flip for fifth place and will travel to Coeburn on Monday for their opening round game.
Twin Springs 000 000 0 – 0 0 2
St. Paul 101 011 x – 4 5 0
Meade and Salyer. Phillips and Ellis. W—Phillips (5-4). L—Meade (7-6). HR—Ellis (SP) 1st, none on.
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