Baseball Is Fun Again in Dc
UNC Pembroke pitcher Trystan Kimmel throws a pitch during practice Monday in Pembroke. Kimmel and Darren Bowen combined to throw a no-hitter Saturday at USC Aiken.
Chris Stiles | The Robesonian
AIKEN, S.C. — When an error and two hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke's baseball season opener Saturday, Braves pitcher Trystan Kimmel found himself in a jam, despite having not allowed a hit in that inning, or the game, to that point.
"I knew right then, it was compete or we were going to lose that game," Kimmel said. "I just went out there and did my stuff."
Kimmel used a strikeout and a groundout to escape the jam and got six additional outs before reliever Darren Bowen got nine more — completing the Braves' first no-hitter in 13 years in a 2-0 win.
"I can't even describe exactly how you feel," said Bowen, a Red Springs alumnus who is a redshirt-sophomore for the Braves. "Because it's such a hard accomplishment, and it's just something that you can say that you've done now for the rest of your life."
While the fourth-inning sequence was the biggest example of the Braves escaping trouble, the Pacers had plenty of baserunners throughout the game; UNCP worked just three perfect innings. Kimmel walked two batters and hit two, Bowen walked one and hit one and the Braves defense had two errors.
"I knew we had a no-hitter going, but we had to pitch out of a couple jams, and we had bases loaded one time, that Trystan got out of," UNCP coach Paul O'Neil said. "We were all probably more focused on, you want to win the game, more than 'hey, he's got a no-hitter going here.'"
Kimmel said he didn't even realize he had a no-hitter until he came out of the game — which happened when he hit his pre-determined pitch count after six innings. Bowen, meanwhile, was well aware after watching the first six innings that a special outcome was a possibility.
"You try not to think about it, but it's really hard as you're counting down the outs to not think about it, and you don't want to be the one to mess that up either," Bowen said. "But then again, you can't look at it like that; you've got to look at it as you've got the opportunity to experience this and to be the one to close it out."
And when he did close it out — inducing a Tyler Littlefield pop-up to third-baseman Wellington Guzman for the final out — Bowen was part of a no-hitter for the first time in his baseball career. Kimmel had one in high school, he said, though he joked "that was 10 years ago at this point."
Kimmel has traveled a long road from that high-school no-hitter to the one Saturday; the Denver, Colorado native played at Northeastern Junior College as a freshman and Iowa Western Community College as a sophomore before two seasons, including the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, at East Carolina.
Now, his redshirt-senior season — and Braves career — couldn't have had a better start.
"Pembroke kind of brought me this unreal experience — finally baseball is fun again," Kimmel said. "I see it as an opportunity to get back on the field and do what I do."
"When he's on the mound he's competitive, but when he's not on the mound, he's a little bit of a clown," O'Neil said. "He likes to have a good time and he keeps everybody loose, and sometimes you need that. When you've got good qualities like that, usually it carries over to the mound, to the diamond, to your baseball performance."
Kimmel struck out five batters over his six innings; Bowen hit the first batter he faced then struck out the next four, finishing with six punchouts in three innings of work. Saturday was Bowen's first game in a multi-inning closer role after starting last season, and while his appearances won't all come in in-progress no-hitters, many will likely be in nerve-racking situations trying to hold close leads late in games.
"The last three innings of the ballgame are always the hardest; those are the hardest nine outs to get, and each inning is a little harder," O'Neil said. "Not everybody can do it; not every player has the ability to take a deep breath and not let their anxiety take control, to just go out and let their abilities take over. (Darren) is going to pitch high-stress innings for us, and he does a great job."
USC Aiken came from behind Sunday to beat the Braves in Pembroke and split the two-game season-opening series. As UNCP gets into the flow of its season, continuing with a three-game home set against Indiana University of Pennsylvania starting Friday, the Braves hope to use the thrill of Saturday's outcome as a springboard to another successful season.
"I think it's going to be an unreal spring," Kimmel said. "We showed what we can do in the first game, and (Sunday) was a sad loss, but that doesn't define us in the slightest. We're going to all come together and we're going to start hitting the ball offensively and we're going to start throwing the ball even better."
Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected] You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.
Source: https://www.robesonian.com/sports/153988/baseball-is-fun-again-braves-kimmel-bowen-combine-for-season-opening-no-hitter
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