Ojai Valley School baseball improved to 10-1 on the season behind a no-hitter on Tuesday from senior Ryan Farrell at Doc Smith Field.
The Spuds matched up against the Newbury Park Adventist Academy in their season series finale. Despite hosting the contest at the Upper Campus, OVS played as the visitors. The Spuds jumped to an early 3-0 lead after the top half of the first inning due to three straight base hits to start the game, including a lead-off double from junior infielder Hyunung Choi.
“Once we got the lead everyone in our dugout knew the what the outcome of the game was going to be,” OVS coach Doug Colborn said.
OVS would add two more runs in the third inning via back-to-back doubles from Hyunung and Ryan. Senior Nic Cilia and junior Dongkeon Kim were also key contributors for the Spuds victory, as both had multiple hits and drove in a third of the OVS scores.
The Spuds would tally 12 hits, eight of them for extra bases. OVS would cause havoc on the base paths by stealing 13 bases.
For Ryan, it was his third complete game of the year and his first career no-hitter shutout (he threw a one-hit complete game shutout against the Cate Rams as a sophomore).
“It was honestly unexpected because I was so immersed in the game that I didn’t even notice I threw one,” Ryan said. “It’s pretty special because it is my senior year and it’s a very difficult task to accomplish, so it made it feel even better when I realized what I had done.”
This was Ryan’s fourth start on hill for Spuds and the third time this year he struck out 10 or more batters.
Ryan’s no-hitter is the second no-hitter in the past four years for OVS. OVS alum Derek Mendoza threw a no-hit game in February 2019, also against NPAA.
Ryan would strike out 15 of the 23 batters he faced, inducing a couple infield pop ups and a few groundouts. Only two batters for the Gators lineup would reach base, both on walks. The 15 strikeouts are a new career high for Ryan.
“He’s a great pitcher and I knew one day he would accomplish this feat,” said left handed pitcher Derek Mendoza(U21), who is now playing for Oxnard College. “Throwing a no-hitter is a rare occurrence in baseball and I am glad he got the opportunity.”
OVS heads into spring break riding a seven game winning streak and will return to action on Tuesday, April 19 against Gorman Learning Center.