SANFORD, Maine — Ryan Minckler put on a dazzling performance on Monday night for the Sanford Mainers, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning in Sanford's 3-2 win over Keene in a New England Collegiate Baseball League game.
The 2021 Portsmouth High School graduate put on a show in what was expected to be his final appearance this summer with the Mainers before taking the next step in his baseball journey to a place where "it's hot."
Minckler on June 30 announced that he will be transferring to Arizona State University to continue his collegiate baseball career in Tempe, after spending the last two years at Niagara University in New York. It will be the third college for Minckler, who went to the University of Virginia after his career at PHS, where he excelled after moving from Thailand.
Rob McCoy ended his 15-year tenure at Niagara University to coach at William & Mary, and Minckler decided to enter the transfer portal.
"It was a wild week," Minckler said. "I had a whole week to be in the portal, and came out choosing (Arizona State University) ... forks up."
"Forks up" is a reference to ASU Sun Devils pride. The Division I school in the Pac-12 conference has a prestigious history with five NCAA baseball national championships, although ASU has missed the NCAA tournament the past three seasons.
Minckler, a right-hander, has two years of college baseball eligibility remaining.
Positive finish to summer 2024
Minckler said his role in 2025 will be up to ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist and the coaching staff, but he wanted to end summer 2024 on a high note.
Minckler went six innings, allowed two runs on three hits, and struck out eight batters. The hit that broke up Minckler's no-hitter, a double by Keene's JD Jones, was inches from falling foul down the first base line in shallow right field.
"It was close enough to be a hit," Minckler joked. "Nothing I can do about that, I thought I made a good pitch and (Jones) made a good swing, so it's all right."
Minckler needed just six pitches — one to Keene's leadoff hitter Jake Koonin, two to Ripken Reese before striking out Josh Kross — to retire the side in the top of the first. And the strikeouts kept piling up.
Minckler struck out two batters in the second and two more in the third inning.
Keene got a two-out, two-run single off the bat of Nicholas Romano for a 2-1 lead over Sanford in the sixth, but Minckler still recorded strikeouts six, seven and eight in his final frame of work.
"I was working on some things, especially throwing my slider for a strike, I think it's gotten a lot better," Minckler said. "Rough last inning."
Minckler, who is listed at 6-foot-3, retired the Keene in order in the three of the first five innings, with the exceptions being a walk to Christian Mitchelle to lead off the third and hitting Romano with a pitch in the fourth.
Through three outings with Sanford, Minckler pitched 14 innings, allowing seven hits, six runs (five earned) and posting a 18:4 strikeouts to walks ratio.
Minckler seeks more improvement as baseball career brings him West
From 2023 to the 2024 season with Niagara, Minckler dropped his ERA from 6.97 to 4.21, and struck out eight more batters (45 to 53). He had a 5-2 record in 20 appearances in 2024, in 51 1/3 innings all in relief.
In one more full inning than he pitched in 2023, Minckler allowed 22 fewer runs (15 fewer earned runs), issued seven fewer walks and reduced opponents' batting average against from .280 to .253.
"Just keep building off the year prior," he said. "I think I had a really good year this year, it was a lot better than my freshman year. Just mentally being tougher and attacking (batters) as much as I can."
Minckler said he had a few transfer options, but was sold on ASU pretty early. He added it was a tough process and he had to come to a decision pretty quickly, with a "decent amount" of schools reaching out.
"It's going to be a .... change from Niagara in cold weather to Arizona's hot weather. Hopefully (my velocity) can tick up. That would be awesome," Minckler said. "I'm really excited to get to work with the pitching coach and the whole program."
Minckler noted he is accustomed to hot weather from his time in Thailand, and he's excited about the Phoenix area.
He's also happy about ASU's hiring of Jeremy Accardo as an assistant coach. Accardo has years of professional baseball experience, including being the assistant pitching coach with the New York Mets in 2019, when ace Jacob deGrom won the National League Cy Young Award.
"I've heard a lot of really, really good things about (Accardo)," Minckler said. "So, I'm hoping to develop as much as I can with him and hopefully have a good spring."
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