Question: In baseball, when can a postseason no-hitter feel like a letdown?
The answer: When it comes one pitch after losing a perfect game.
South Park senior Cooper Hochendoner wasn’t in the mood to celebrate moments after the final out because on the previous pitch, he walked Nate Rohe of Keystone Oaks on a 3-2 pitch.
That turned out to be the only KO baserunner as Hochendoner was magnificent in throwing a complete-game no-hitter as South Park advanced with a Class 3A first-round victory Tuesday at Joe Maize Field in Peters Township, 3-0.
“It was disappointing because a perfect game is one of the rarest things in baseball,” Hochendoner said. “Not getting a perfect game stings, but we got the win and that’s what we came here to do.”
The Slippery Rock recruit was the story from the get-go as he struck out the side in the top of the first inning.
He retired the first 20 Keystone Oaks batters he faced until the Rohe at-bat.
The KO pitcher fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches before working a 3-2 count. The deciding pitch was up in the zone for a walk.
“It came out of my hands, and it was one of those pitches that you think there’s a chance for a strike, but my whole pitching mechanic wasn’t perfect and it just missed high,” Hochendoner said.
His pitching line was dominant: seven innings pitched, no runs, no hits, one walk and 15 strikeouts.
Only six of the 21 outs were put in play by Golden Eagles batters.
“It was definitely his best game of the season,” South Park coach Corey Fischer said afterward. “I’m not surprised by that because he’s built for the playoffs. We left the field last June wanting another shot at playoff baseball. Cooper epitomizes that because he battled Zach Hare and he battled Riverside good enough twice to beat him, but we just couldn’t give him the offensive support to beat him.
“I think he’s so effective because he gets ahead (of hitters). When he gets ahead on guys, he lowers his pitch count and that keeps him in games longer.”
While Hochendoner was near perfect, Rohe was pretty darn good as well for Keystone Oaks.
He kept the game scoreless through the first four inning by pitching out of several jams.
South Park had a one-out double in the first inning, second and third with one out in both the second and third innings and bases loaded after consecutive errors with two outs only to have Rohe come up with the big pitch when needed.
The Eagles left seven runners on base between the second and fourth inning, six of them in scoring position.
“I still had confidence in the group,” Fischer said. “It surely was frustrating not getting those guys in. We had ducks on the pond a lot when one hit would have made it a different ballgame and we would have been at ease. I wasn’t nervous (as the game went on scoreless), but I was getting anxious to break through.”
That breakthrough happened in the bottom of the fifth inning when Hochendoner drew a leadoff walk, and senior catcher Ryan Spitnagler drilled a pitch deep over the left field fence for all the offense the Eagles needed.
“Spitz is just a great hitter,” Hochendoner said. “He’s one of those guys that you know it gone off the bat. Watching it go out from first base, it’s like relief, then you get more confidence the next inning when you go on the mound that you got a lead. It was great for sure.”
South Park added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Willy Hays singled, stole second, advanced to third base on a groundout and scored when Tolan Glowa’s groundball got past the second baseman for an RBI.
Keystone Oaks finishes with a record of 9-10 and fails to get out of the first round of the Class 3A playoffs for a sixth straight season.
South Park improves to 13-5 and will face No. 4 Freeport in the Class 3A quarterfinals next Tuesday.