Rob Ewald Fires a No Hitter for Ladue Against Hancock

Ladue is developing this new baseball tradition. Its called throwing no-hitters from the mound.

Last year Greg Gannon fired a perfect game before dashing off to Mizzou. Well Rob Ewald has done the same, limited the Hancock Tigers to no hits and just one base runner en-route to a 10-0 rule shortened five inning game on a blustery, cold dank gray day on their home field Friday.

Ewald was dazzling, mixing up his pitches and speed. He bamboozled all of the Tiger hitters at the plate. Mostly, they were whiffing at air.

“The fast ball was working, the off-speed stuff wasn’t so great but I had the curve ball working too,” said Ewald. He credits much of his success to his veteran catcher, three-year starter Turner Miller.

“I’ve had him for a couple of years and I’m used to him. He did a good job of calling my pitches,” said Ewald. This was the senior’s first no hitter ever, from little league to his final year in high school.

Newcomer Michael Wielanski was the first Ram to score. He walked in the first and came home on a wild pitch from the Tigers’s starter Billy Heintzmann. The Hancock hurler lost his control in the home half of the third.

The Rams batted around the lineup with five different players scoring. They jumped on the third Hancock pitcher for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to close out the second win of the season. Hancock fell to 2-3.

What coach Rob Garrett saw

“That was a good win. Our players made adjustments at the plate. Rob Ewald pitched a terrific game out there. We have a lot of new faces who have stepped in and filled a void for us.

On Rob Ewald

“He did a good job today. He hit his spots all day long. He had good pop on it and I was very proud of him.

Dan Knox of Hancock

“The weather is tough. It’s really cold, but both teams had to play it. That pitcher threw hard and they hit us. Our kids just have to understand adversity is always going to be there. They can’t worry about the calls. They just have to continue to play hard.