By: Keith Chambers
BELLINGHAM — The Bellingham Red Raiders played their best defensive game of the season so far, but could not figure out how to manage a hit against Anacortes’ Kevin McClellan, who threw seven innings of no-hit baseball as the Anacortes Seahawks defeated Bellingham 4-0 Tuesday evening at Joe Martin Field.
McClellan was in control the entire game, striking out nine Red Raider batters and scattering four walks through his complete game outing. The Bellingham baserunners were either stranded at first base, were forced out in a double play, or were caught stealing.
Anacortes head coach Pat Swapp said it was the first no-hitter he could remember happening since 2017, when Kaden Cornett threw a no-hitter at Ferndale.
“That game was either five or six innings,” Swapp said. “But, a no hitter’s a no hitter — they were both good accomplishments.”
When asked about his performance, the senior pitcher was in awe of his achievements today.
“I don’t really know what else to say… I mean, it feels good, and it’s kinda still sinking in that I accomplished it,” said McClellan who earlier this season had a dominant outing against Nooksack Valley. “It feels good to just get one.”
Swapp was most proud of McClellan being able to stay out of his own head and focus on the next batter after each of his four walks.
“With any high school pitcher, if you hit a guy or walk a guy, sometimes that can snowball, and he (McClellan) didn’t let it snowball today,” Swapp said. “He just was able to move on to the next pitch and throw strikes to the next guy.”
McClellan thanked his defense for their contributions to his no hitter in his closing remarks.
“We’ve been playing good D as of late,” McClellan added. “I’m really proud to have them behind me.”
Anacortes will travel back to Bellingham on Thursday to face Sehome, while Bellingham’s next game is Tuesday, May 4th, also at Sehome High School.
Box Score
TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - R H E ANA 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 0 BELL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Keith Chambers is an avid sports fan who just happened to be announcing a baseball game when a no-hitter broke out in front of him. He has worked in sports at the Bellingham School District since 2004, and can usually be heard announcing an event at Civic Stadium during High School Football season.
Thank you for that great article. I could not be more proud of Kevin. That last inning could have gone the other way in a heartbeat. Exactly as Coach said, Kevin kept his cool and just went after it one pitch at a time. Super defense by his teammates. Fun game to watch!
Thanks Carol for enjoying the article! I thought I had to do something for Kevin after getting that achievement done, so I tried to write a story about his accomplishment that day. Many thanks to the Anacortes coaching staff for allowing me the time to get a quick on field interview with coach Swapp and Kevin immediately after the no hitter.