7/3/25 : Reflecting on a Jersey Shore No-Hitter

Written by Steve Potter

Last night in the second game of a double header three Jersey Shore BlueClaws delivered a no hit, no run effort in a 6-0 seven inning victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Alex McFarlane (5 IP), Ethan Chenault (1 IP), and Josh Hejka (1 IP) combined on the eighth no-hitter in BlueClaws history.

McFarlane now has a ten inning no hit, no run streak going as in his last start he also went five innings without allowing a hit. He has 13 K’s and 5 walks over the two outings and earned his first professional win last evening. Alex is in his first season back from rehabbing from the  TJ surgery he had in the fall of 2023. I did a spotlight article on him this past November https://www.philliesbaseballfan.com/post/11-8-24-spotlight-alex-mcfarlane. 

Regaining consistent form and mechanics after a long layoff and build back is difficult - Alex has had his struggles this season in some outings yet has pitched well in others. I asked him today what’s enabled his most recent run of success - “I have just gotten in better positions to throw strikes body wise with my posture.  I’m also taking it one outing at a time trying to learn something positive from each one good or bad.”  Phillies Minor League Pitching Director Travis Hergert was in the dugout last night, he told me “Ryan Buchter has done a great job with adjustments with Alex. We shifted on the rubber towards third base to create some deception and help his direction towards the plate. He’s healthy which is the number one priority.”  Buchter is the Jersey Shore pitching coach.

The BlueClaws scored all six of their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning which meant a shut down inning was in order when reliever Ethan Chenault came in to pitch the sixth for Jersey Shore. I asked Ethan if he was aware there was a no-hitter and if it altered his approach any. He said “I saw that it was a no hitter while I was warming up but kind of forgot about it when I went into the game and then later realized it after Bull told me I was done. I don’t think I approached the inning any differently, the offense put up six runs the inning before and I just wanted to get them back into the dugout as fast as I could with a shut down inning.”

Sidewinder Josh Hejka was selected by Manager Greg “Bull” Brodzinski to pitch the final inning.  Josh is a spin artist who’s bounced back and forth between Jersey Shore and Reading thus far this year after being acquired from the New York Mets organization. He’s deceptive in his delivery, not a high velocity hurler and mainly pitches to contact. He tossed a perfect inning to close out the effort getting a strikeout, pop out to second base and a fly out to left fielder Pierce Bennett to finish it needing just eleven pitches, eight of which were strikes to complete the mission.

The conductor of the effort was catcher Louis Caicuto who told me it was the first no hitter he’s caught. I asked him what his thought process was in calling the game.  Louis said “My plan throughout the game was to attack the batters, focus on making the game fast and try to make the pitchers feel confident in me and in the pitches I was calling, a no hitter was never my priority, but the whole team made the effort and we played in the game the right way.”

The season has been a struggle to date for the BlueClaws, the no hit effort is something that hopefully can propel the club as they forge ahead in the second half.  Chenault told me that “I think we have a great group of guys and we’re very close and yes we’ve had a lot of games not go our way but I think we’ve done a good job continuing to fight and hopefully this sways us towards a winning momentum.”

Per game notes provided by the BlueClaws the most recent previous BlueClaws no-hitter was thrown by Spencer Howard on 9/7/18 against Kannapolis in game two of the South Atlantic League North Division Championship series. Yesterday’s effort was the second seven-inning no-hitter (Keith Bucktrot on 4/12/01 in BlueClaws’ second ever home game) and it was the second three-man no-hitter (Jeb Stefan, Ramon Oviedo, and Chris Burgess on 7/11/13 on a night with Dennis Haskins, aka Mr. Belding, at the park for an autograph signing) for the franchise.

Last summer when Alex was at the complex rehabbing I caught a discussion he and his organization rehab mates were having one day about how Babe Ruth would have performed in today’s game, it was quite entertaining.  So I couldn’t resist asking Alex if Babe Ruth had been in the Wilmington lineup last night how he would have fared against him. Alex said “The Babe would’ve had a great approach at the plate and probably put up good at bats. But in the end I feel like I would get him to line out or strikeout.” That’s good stuff!

Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️

Left to right : Ethan Chenault, Alex McFarlane, Lous Caicuto and Josh Hejka

Note : I've partnered  with Fanatics on Phillies Merchandise - if you would like to help support my website and articles here's a link to order merchandise - I get a small commission on any sales - thanks for the support.

http://fanatics.93n6tx.net/NKjZkK