BELOIT—Each time that Beloit Sky Carp starter Emmett Olson walked off the mound after tossing an inning on Wednesday night, he took a look back at the video board in left field where a big, fat zero stared right back at him.
As each frame passed, Olson become more and more aware of the no-hitter he had going through six-plus innings.
“I would think about it, it will always be in my head,” the lefty said with a smile. “It never won’t be, every time. I try not to think about it, but I always do.”
Kevin Maitan’s one-out solo home run that clanged off of the batter’s eye in center field ended Olson’s no-hit bid, and a Nate Baez double and walk by Jay Harry ended his spectacular night from the mound.
And while Olson didn’t get to complete his no-hitter, the 2023 fourth-round pick helped propel the Sky Carp to a 3-1 win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels in front of 2,447 fans at ABC Supply Stadium.
“Emmett Olson was awesome on the mound tonight,” catcher Cameron Barstad said when asked what helped Beloit earn the victory. “Everything was working, we were on the same page from the get-go. He just mowed them down.
“It's always fun to catch a no hitter into the seventh. I've never really done that in pro ball. I've taken pitchers far into games, but that was a pretty fun one.”
The Sky Carp take a 2-0 series lead over the Kernels in the six-game homestand.
Olson said coming into the start the only thing special about the start was that he had been drafted by the Miami Marlins a year to the date. He celebrated the anniversary appropriately.
“I just focused on getting ahead and throwing the changeup for strikes,” he said. “I felt like everything was working. My fastball was working, the changeup was working really well, and then the slider and the curveball worked well. It was just a perfect day for me. I had everything working and all the guys behind me were playing sharp, so I can't complain.”
Olson walked Ricardo Olivar with one out in the first but got back-to-back pop outs to strand the runner. He threw a 1-2-3 second, third and fourth before allowing a one-out walk to Harry in the fifth, which he quickly erased when Beloit’s defense turned a double play.
Hess was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth but a pop out kept the Kernels hitless.
Olson emphasized the work his change-up did, and his coach was quick to point that out, too.
“The changeup was really effective,” Beloit pitching coach Jason Erickson said. “He threw a lot of strikes. He was able to keep them off balance by using all of his pitches. He does a good job of always being in attack mode. From the first time he got here to now, he's never changed his approach or who he is as a pitcher. He’s really aggressive.”
Reliever Kyle Crigger came on with two outs and got Misael Urbina to ground out and Agustin Ruiz’s deep fly out was caught by center fielder Osiris Johnson to keep it a two-run game.
“Kyle is always coming in behind me and saving my butt,” Olson said. “He’s got gross pitches, and he’s always saved me out of jams.”
Olson finished with five strikeouts and three walks while allowing two hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Nigel Belgrave struck out two in two perfect innings to earn his fifth save of the season.
“One of the things coming into the year for him was just constantly being in attack mode and being in positive counts,” Erickson said. “And he's done a really good job of getting to strike one, getting to strike two, etc.”
Brett Roberts, making just his second start with the Sky Carp after going through a pair of rehab assignments after being injured in late April, put Beloit ahead when his two-out single off starter Mike Paredes in the fourth scored Johnny Olmstead, who had singled to begin the inning.
Barstad made it 2-0 when he sent his sixth bomb of the year over the right-center field wall in the fifth off reliever A.J. Labas.
“I've never hit a homer in front of my parents in pro ball, so it felt pretty good,” said Barstad, who had his mom and dad in the crowd at ABC Supply Stadium on Wednesday. “It was one of those that when you hit it, you knew you got it.”
Mark Coley doubled an out later, stole third and scored on Johnny Olmstead’s sacrifice fly to center to up it to 3-0.
Paredes allowed five hits and an earned run with three strikeouts in four innings. Gabriel Yanez was perfect for the Kernels as he struck out three in the final two frames.
Beloit outhit Cedar Rapids 8-2, and seven of the Sky Carp’s nine hitters had at least one hit. Josh Zamora led the way with two.
“This lineup is just a bunch of grinders,” Barstad said. “Everybody comes to the park every day ready to work. We have fun in the clubhouse, on the field, in the dugout, and honestly, that's what it is. No matter who's hitting, who's not, we're always trying to pick each other up and win the ballgame.”
And the Sky Carp are hoping that the series lead is a sign of good things to come after coming into the homestand having won just two of its past eight games.
“It's hard not to get down on yourself when you're losing a couple in a row and we're not swinging it that well,” Barstad said. “But, it's really easy to ride the roller coaster when you're winning. And that's what everybody's trying to find is that consistency.”
Beloit returns to ABC Supply Stadium to face the Kernels on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.
• BOXSCORE:
BELOIT 3, CEDAR RAPIDS 1
Cedar Rapids 000 000 100 — 1 2 0
Beloit 000 120 00x — 3 8 0
CEDAR RAPIDS (ab-r-h-rbi) — Doncon, ss, 1-0-0-0; Hess, ph-cf, 2-0-0-0; Olivar, dh, 3-0-0-0; Gonzalez rf, 4-0-0-0; Maitan, 3b, 4-1-1-1; Baez, c, 4-0-1-0; Harry, 2b, 1-0-0-0; Urbina, lf, 3-0-0-0; Ruiz, 1b, 3-0-0-0; Salas, cf-ss, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 28-1-2-1.
BELOIT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Coley, rf, 4-1-1-0; Olmstead, ss, 3-1-1-1; Zamora, 2b, 4-0-2-0; Bullard, 3b, 4-0-1-0; Vradenburg, 1b, 2-0-1-0; Roberts, dh, 3-0-1-1; DeLeo, lf, 3-0-0-0; Barstad, c, 3-1-1-1; Johnson, cf, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 29-3-8-3.
E: none. DP: CR 2, Bel 1. LOB: CR 4, Bel 4. 2B: Baez, Coley. HR: Barstad (6), Maitan (5). SF: Olmstead. SB: Coley (13).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): CR, Paredes (L,1-1) 4.0-5-1-1-0-3; Labas 2.0-3-2-2-1-2; Yanez 2.0-0-0-0-0-3. Bel, Olson (W,4-3) 6.1-2-1-1-3-5; Crigger 0.2-0-0-0-0-0; Belgrave (S,5) 2.0-0-0-0-0-2..
HBP: Hess by Olson. T: 1:50. Att. 2,447.
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