Davin Hinote was not a likely candidate to pitch a no-hitter.
Relegated to one previous start this season Kansas Wesleyan coach Bill Neale tabbed Hinote to begins Tuesday's game against Kansas Conference foe York at Dean Evans Stadium.
"We have a lot of injuries (to our pitchers)," Neale said. "We knew even though it is a conference game we had to get some guys out there to see if we can use them because we're going to wear down our six main guys if we don't find someone else."
Hinote made it seven with a magnificent effort.
Relying on his fastball, an effective slider and terrific work from his defense Hinote threw KWU's first no-hitter since 2014 in the Coyotes' 12-0 run-rule victory.
He struck out five and walked one but did hit five batters while throwing 78 pitches during the run-rule shortened seven-inning game.
"This is my first no-hitter ever, so just having a no-hitter in general is awesome," said Hinote, a sophomore right-hander who played high school ball at Maize High School. "It was just great to go out there and compete, be in the zone and get a win for the team."
The results were surprising.
"Before that he had 4 2/3 innings pitched and he'd given up 11 earned runs, 11 walks but he's got a .128 opponents' batting average," Neale said. "His stuff is good when he's in the zone, but sometimes he just misses the zone. He's one of the top two or three most talented arms on our team, he throws 86 to 90 miles per hour."
Neale and pitching coach Tyler Huffstickler weren't sure what they would get from Hinote, but anything would be beneficial.
"He hit a guy and walked a guy in the fourth inning and I was like 'okay, this closes at four (innings).' He had four hit-by-pitches or something like that, so it wasn't a clean no-hit. But there were no hits - that's the main thing."
Hinote said nerves were not a factor
"I'm not going to lie; I didn't feel any pressure from (York), they didn't have a lot of energy the entire game," he said. "I went out there and just told myself, 'Nice and easy.' That's what I've been working on, nice and easy delivery, just trying to throw it right down the middle."
Drama reared its head in the top of the seventh. Hinote hit the leadoff batter and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hinote retired the next two hitters on a fly ball and ground ball to third.
York's Gio Tarin stepped to the plate and slammed a pitch down the first base line but first baseman Fernando Ruvalcaba saved the day.
"I'm just glad Fernando is six (feet)-seven because if anybody else is playing first base that ball wins," Hinote said. "Fernie just reached up and snagged it out of the air."
Hinote says his memory is a bit fuzzy after that.
"I remember throwing my glove off, screaming, giving Carter (Allen) and (Garrett) Garfield a hug and then I just remember getting swarmed and drenched after that. My jersey got torn off," he said.
Hinote credited his defense.
"I texted them all saying that they played an absolutely amazing game, which they did," he said. "Garrett Garfield made two amazing plays (at third base) to save me."
Neale said he and Huffstickler worked with Hinote to streamline his delivery.
"He's a big, tall kid, and he'd come set and then start rotating and moving," Neale said. "We told him, 'Just lift and go; you have all the talent.' Now he looks like a pitcher. His feet are closer together when he comes set, it's just a quick boom and go. Of his 78 pitches at least 65 were fastballs and he had a nasty slider."
Hinote said he retrieved the ball Ruvalcaba caught for the third out.
"I'm going to put it in a case and keep that thing forever," he said.
NEALE REFLECTS ON 400 WINS
The Coyotes' 9-4 victory over Friends last Sunday was the 400th of Neale's career. Now in his 13th season as a head coach 377 of his now 401 wins have come during 11-plus seasons at KWU.
"It's pretty cool," he said. "I tell people it's 400 times I got to do handshakes at the end of the game with my coaches, and it's 400 times I've got to see my players celebrate their hard work. And they all mean something, every single game from the first one to the 400th, they're all important to us especially with where our goals are now."
Neale has led the Coyotes to NAIA postseason play each of the last four seasons including the program's first appearance in the NAIA World Series in 2024. KWU has won 41-plus games each of the past three years.
"I just thank all the former and current assistant coaches and players, especially coach (Jonathan) Freemyer and what we were able to do together," he said. "And then obviously what we've done with coach (Huffstickler) and coach (Bret) Ringer has been really special. But at the end of the day coaches don't win games; the players do. The players deserve all the credit.