Lucas Dennis knows the drill.
He had been there twice last season, in back-to-back games. The Saratoga right-hander held Lynbrook and Fremont-Sunnyvale hitless in consecutive starts.
On Friday, Dennis, now a senior, was even better than a year ago.
In fact, he was perfect.
The pitcher on his way to Pomona-Pitzer retired all 21 batters he faced as Saratoga won 4-0 at home against Lynbrook.
Dennis threw 69 pitches, 51 for strikes, and struckout seven batters.
If that wasn’t enough, he went 2 for 2 with a triple, two RBIs and a walk for a team that improved its league record to 3-2 and overall mark to 5-7.
“It felt really good; it felt like the ball jumped out of my hand,” Dennis told the Bay Area News Group. “I didn’t put in as much effort as usual. It felt like I had a lot of control over my body. I could be pretty exact where I put it.
As the game progressed, Dennis did everything he could not to think about the zero in the hit column.
“It’s actually hard to stay focused and stay in the moment,” he said. “I just had to breathe and reset each pitch and treat it as one tone at a time.”
If there were any nerves, they came when the top of Lynbrook’s order hit a second time.
“The 1, 2 and 3 hitters for Lynbrook are all pretty solid,” said Dennis. “I wasn’t able to get as many swings and misses as I had hoped with those three hitters. But I could get weak contact.
“I was a little nervous there. But once I got through that, I felt like I was more or less in control.
Saratoga coach Vincent Augustine called Dennis a baseball kid in his first season with the program.
“It’s in his blood,” Augustine said. Good for that child. He deserved it. If I’m Lynbrook I wouldn’t like to see Dennis on the other side.”
The coach said he had a lot of confidence in his trump card “because he wasn’t the only one who tried to win the at bat. He was able to limit his pitches and force the batter to swing right away. With the defense behind him and able to play catch today, it just gave him more reason to compete and turn them into hitters instead of just trying to take the job.
The last out of the game was a grounder off the first baseline. Dennis picked up the ball and underhanded it to first for the final out.
There was no jumping for joy.
As Dennis put it later that night in an interview with the Bay Area News Group, “I stood there in a little bit of shock. I wasn’t 100 percent sure the game was over. I had to wait a bit for the referee to let me know it was game. After that I was just celebrating with the team and spending time with the guys.
Dennis posed for a photo on the mound and with teammates, holding a ball in both photos.
“What a way to kick off spring break,” tweeted teammate Aiden Chen, who had a hit and run scored in the game. “It was a pleasure to see you constantly pounding the zone today. Congratulations on a great game and a great week!”
Most pitchers, even in high school, are lucky enough to pitch one no-hitter.
Dennis now has three, including a perfecto.
“I certainly never thought this was possible in high school,” he said.
Friday’s outing earned a tasty treat for the team.
“We had a 70-pitch-count challenge,” Augustine said. “If you can throw a CG (full game) or make a team win under 70 throws, milkshakes to me. He wanted that milkshake.”
