SOLEDAD — The last time Soledad’s baseball team took the field, they were coming off a loss to Liberty Union 14-4, and with league rival King City Mustangs coming into town, the Aztecs turned to their ace, Eric Segura, who threw his first high school no-hitter.
Entering the game, Oregon State-bound Segura’s record was 2-2 overall.
Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Aztecs had lost three of their last four games, and Segura had lost his previous two starts. If Soledad wanted to get back on track, they would have to beat King City, who had won their previous two games.
Soledad entered the match-up with a three-game winning streak over King City.
From start to finish, Segura had the King City batters guessing as he struck out eight Mustangs. His fastball, which seemed to be around the mid-’80s, looked faster, especially when mixing in his off-speed pitches.
Other than the errors that erased Segura’s chance for a perfect game, the only trouble he faced came in the third inning, when a King City player almost got on with an infield hit.
Even in the later inning, Segura was well aware he was on pace to have a no-hitter, as he looked over at the scoreboard in right field.
“Every other inning, I would look up there,” he said.
According to Segura, this is his second no-hitter but his first as an Aztec.
Normally, pitchers will finish no-hitters with getting mobbed by his teammates on the mound, but because Soledad scored their 10th run in the bottom of the fifth, the game was over due to the 10 Run Rule.
Segura ended up striking out eight, with no hits and no walks.
“I felt good,” he said. “Other than a couple of errors, everything was good.”
More important to Segura, Soledad was able to get back in the win column as they now improve to 2-1 in the Mission Division.
“This game was really important,” he said. “After that Watsonville loss, we needed this one. Hopefully, we come out on Friday and win that one too.”
Soledad and King City will wrap up their season series on Friday at 4 p.m. in King City.
