Frymier no-hits Loggers at Faber

Preparing for the his first start of the season on Tuesday, River Bats pitcher Kurtis Frymier was greeted at Joe Faber Field with a downpour, delaying his starting debut by a day.
For the Michigan State product, it was well worth the wait.

Frymier struck out four en route to a seven-inning no-hitter, leading the River Bats to a Game 1 victory over the La Crosse Loggers on Wednesday at Joe Faber Field.

He joined former Bats pitcher and current Texas Rangers prospect Thomas Diamond as the only players to throw no-hitters in team history. Diamond threw nine hitless innings in a 5-0 win at Alexandria on June 15, 2003.

“Throwing a no-hitter, it’s a great thing,” Frymier said. “But just the fact that our team was able to get the win just makes it that much better.”

It wasn’t the first no-hitter of Frymier’s pitching career. The right-hander said he last threw a no-no during his junior year of high school in Michigan.

“It was a wooden bat tournament, I was able to throw a no-hitter,” he said laughing.
Because of the rain out the day before and the lack of makeup dates in the Northwoods League schedule, the two teams squared off in two seven-inning games. Because of the unfamiliar situation, Frymier’s teammates nearly forgot about the no-hit bid.

“The game goes by so fast. It was the sixth inning before half of us realized he was throwing a no-hitter,” said left fielder Matt Fanelli. “We looked up and ‘oh, he only gets one more inning and it’s a no-no.’

“I think we heightened our awareness a little bit after about the sixth or seventh, we’re all sitting there going ‘is he going to do it?’”

The no-hitter highlighted the River Bats’ 3-4 week as the team sits 8-15 thus far, eight games back of the Northwoods League North Division-leading Mankato MoonDogs.
Frymier, a third-year River Bat got off to a rough start, with two runners getting on base after two straight errors. But after the early scare, the River Bats’ defense hunkered down to stall the Loggers with two runners on base.

“I committed one of those errors but I just kind of blocked it out. That stuff’s going to happen,” Frymier said. “That’s the game of baseball; you have to stay even-keeled.”

In the second, Frymier walked two batters, but again, was able to avert danger by forcing a double play. After that, Frymier was unrelenting, retiring the next 14 Loggers.

“He mixed pitches well; he slowed their bats with his off-speed stuff and he hit spots with his fastball,” said first-year River Bats manager Marcus Clapp. “Anytime you locate down and you have your pitches working, you’re going to be tough to beat.”

While their pitcher was excelling, the River Bats’ offense struggled in the first three innings, producing no runs and only three hits.

In the fourth, Fanelli started off the inning with a double off Loggers starter Pete Woodworth. He would advance to third after first baseman Blake Cover hit a liner to the outfield. Nick Longmier would drive in Fanelli on a ground out for the game’s first run of the evening, Longmier’s eighth RBI of the year.

Fanelli -- who went 2-for-3 in the game -- would produce the team’s insurance run in the sixth, driving in Renda for his fourth RBI of the year.

The River Bats continue trying to find their stroke offensively with the absence of last year’s top hitter Derek McCallum. The Minnesota Twins drafted McCallum, a junior at the University of Minnesota, in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball Draft on June 10.

“You can’t replace Derek McCallum,” Fanelli -- the team leader with a .368 batting average -- said. “We’re all just trying to pick up the slack a little bit and the way our pitchers are throwing, we score two runs a night, we feel like we have a good chance to win.”

After walking his first batter of the seventh, Frymier retired the side for the no-hitter, as teammates stormed the field to celebrate.

The River Bats’ top starter and SCSU junior David Deminsky took the mound for Game 2, holding the Loggers scoreless through five innings.

Unfortunately for the nearby Sartell native, the River Bats’ offense was held to three hits and no runs, as the Loggers squeaked by with a 1-0 victory in the nightcap.
LaCrosse lefty Steven Gruver went six and one-third innings, striking out six for his second win of the season.

“He stayed away and he had a little pop and he had some good run,” Clapp said of Gruver’s performance. “I didn’t think we had the greatest approaches at the plate with him.”

After leading off with a single, La Crosse’s Austin Knight broke the scoreless tie in the sixth after a fielding error by River Bats shortstop Dan Betteridge. Knight finished the contest 2-for-3.

The River Bats’ best opportunity came in the final inning, with two runners aboard with one out. Craig Crumbly relieved Gruver, retiring the next two batters for his third save of the season.

For Deminsky, whose ERA dropped to 0.96 in a complete game, it was his first loss of the season.

“A team performance, you get a no-hitter and a one-run game that was unearned, you can’t ask for anymore out of your pitchers,” Clapp said. “14 innings of no earned runs, our pitching has been good for us all year, our starting pitching has been outstanding.”