Mudhens get NO-HITTER from Jake Leighton

Jake Leighton comes from good baseball stock. His dad is called, “Mr. 500” in South Dakota for his over 520 amateur baseball home runs.
Saturday, Jake Leighton  put his own mark on amateur baseball when he pitched  a seven-inning no hitter in a 12-0 Mudhen win over Tracy.
Leighton, who pitched for SMSU in Marshall had to get special approval from the Minnesota Amateur Baseball League to pitch at Minneota since college players are not allowed to play outside the college town. But Leighton is graduating, lives in Ghent and was approved.
Saturday he breezed through the Tracy Engineers like a hot knife through butter and struck out nine batters. The only baserunners were two walks he issued in the fifth and seventh innings. One was wiped out by a double play started by shortstop Preston Nuy.
“In high school, I threw a no hitter in our state tournament,” said Leighton. But he hadn’t thrown another until now. “Everyone (you pitch) is awesome,” Leighton said.
Perhaps the special part came from the fact that Leighton had a brand new catcher to throw to — Canby native Noah Scott. “My catcher called a great game. He did a great job. I think I shook him off once the whole game. For a new guy, he did a great job.”
Scott was inserted into the lineup beause Jesse Drager hurt the heel of his foot the night before against the Milroy Yankees. He hurt it on first base after bunting and trying to beat it out.
Scott not only got into the starting lineup because he was needed, but came at the right time and delivered a single for his first Mudhen hit and knocked in his first run. “The first of many,” said Manager Tyson Sonnenburg as he congratulated Scott.
Leighton was enjoying his time with the Mudhens already and in his first three games he’s thrown a no-hitter and is hitting, .500 with seven hits in 14 trips to the plate. He’s knocked in six runs and scored four.
“Everyone’s doing their part and I’m having a lot of fun,” was his assessment of the team so far.
As for the no-hitter, “I wasn’t paying attention. Then someone said in seventh I had a no hitter and I said, 'Why did you say that?'”
He laughed, but went out and finished the job in the seventh.
Despite the fact Minneota lost to the Milroy Yankees a night earlier, 9-8, Leighton enjoyed a, “Great game last night.”
The Mudhens, short players for a variety of reasons, also got their first game with high school senior Alex Pohlen in the lineup. Pohlen went 1-2 with a double that drove in two runs, he scored twice and walked twice.
“We got Alex signed up this week,” said Manager Sonnenburg.
Also holding a hot bat so far is Danny Hennen. Playing first base when he isn’t hitting, he ripped off two more doubles against Tracy, knocked in three runs and scored twice.
Hennen is hitting .556, with five hits in nine trips with four doubles.
The Mudhens are 2-1 after the first three games and play at home Wednesday against Granite Falls and again at 5 p.m. Sunday at Milroy against the Yankees.

Minneota 12, Tracy 0 (7 innings)
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Beau Buysse, 2b 3-1-0-1; Preston Nuy, ss 4-1-1-0; Tyson Sonnenburg, cf 2-2-0-0; Jake Leighton, p 5-2-3-0; Austin Buysse, 3b 3-1-1-0; Bryce Gorder, 3b 1-0-0-0; Danny Hennen, 1b 2-2-2-3; Alex Pohlen, lf 2-2-1-2; Noah Scott, c 2-1-1-1; Jordan Beck, rf 4-0-1-0. Totals 28-12-10-7.
TRACY (AB-R-J-RBI) Tanner Phelps, ss 3-0-0-0; Cory Apperson, lf-p 3-0-0-0; Shane Erickson, c 2-0-0-0; Jordan Lenoue, p-2b  3-0-0-0; Derek Radke, 3b 1-0-0-0; Anthony Rohlik, 1b 2-0-0-0; James Fultz. 2b 2-0-0-0; Brian Fultz, cf 0-0-0-0; Travis Appelson, dh 2-0-0-0; Mike Solheim, rf 2-0-0-0; Joe Bretschneider, p 0-0-0-0. Totals 20-0-0-0.
Score by Innings
Minneota        010 421 4 — 12  10  0
Tracy              000 000 0 — 0    0    2
E-Tracy: Radke 2. LOB-Minneota 8; Tracy 1. SB-Minneota: Beau Buysse. SAC-Minneota:Beau Buysse, Hennen. DP-Minneota 6-3 (3); 6-4-3 (7); Tracy 6-4-3 (5). 2B-Danny Hennen 2; Jake Leighton, Alex Pohlen.
Pitching                       IP    R    ER    H    BB    K
Jake Leighton (W)        7     0     0       0     2      9
Tracy
Jordan Lanoue (L)        5     7     7       9     4      3
C. Apperson                 1.2  5     2       1     4      0
Joe Bretschneider        0.1  0     0       0     0      0
HP-Sonnenburg, Scott, Pohlen (by Apperson). WP-Apperson.