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Safford junior right-hander Gabe Ornelas said nobody jumped on him Tuesday after he pitched his second consecutive no-hitter, a 10-0, six-inning win over Coolidge.
“I try to stay humble about it,” he said.
Ornelas’ first-ever no-hitter came five days earlier in a 13-0 win over rival Thatcher, a game shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule.
“This is my 14th year coaching high school baseball, and I’ve never been a part of a no-hitter,” coach Robert Abalos said.
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Both of Ornelas’ no-hitters came at home, where the scoreboard doesn’t have room to list hits, only runs.
“I think that helped,” Abalos said. “Nobody was paying attention to the hits. But I know deep down, he knew he had no-hitters going. We knew.”
Ornelas, who improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.29, struck out 15 Coolidge batters. Against Thatcher, he struck out 10. He has had double-digit strikeouts in his last three starts. Before the streak of no-hitters began, Ornelas gave up two hits and did not give up an earned run in a 9-1 win against Show Low.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association doesn’t track no-hitters in its baseball archives.
His next start comes next Tuesday at Globe, which is 5-7 and is hitting .295 as a team.
“I’ll try my best, but I don’t go in thinking I’ll pitch a no-hitter,” he said.
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Suggest human interest stories to Richard Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.
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