White no-hits Wolfpack

Fallbrook High School senior Andy White threw a no-hitter against Great Oak High School on the Wolfpack's diamond March 17.

The left-hander walked two batters, both of whom were subsequently erased on double plays, and retired the final 18 hitters.

"Just exciting to be a part of that. It doesn't happen very often," said Fallbrook coach Patrick Walker.

The last Fallbrook no-hitter prior to White's was thrown on April 10, 2008, by then-sophomore Chase Johnson, who is currently at spring training with the San Francisco Giants and concluded the 2014 minor league season with the Giants' Augusta farm team in the South Atlantic League.

The 5-0 victory at Great Oak gave Fallbrook a 3-2 season record. "Great start for us. Even though we're 3 and 2, we've played a really tough schedule," Walker said.

White's seven shutout innings gave the Warriors a cumulative total of 30 shutout innings of the 34 thrown. "We're really excited about our three pitchers," Walker said.

Fallbrook's other two pitchers are junior right-hander Bryson Spagnuolo and freshman southpaw Collin Hoff. White, who plays left field when he is not on the mound, is one of three seniors on the team along with first baseman Reese Berberet and catcher Cedric Brown. "We're still pretty young," Walker said. "We have six juniors who are starting for us, which is exciting, too."

Two former Major League Baseball players are on the team's coaching staff. Troy Cate, a 1998 Fallbrook High School graduate who spent part of 2007 pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, rejoined the Warriors this year as the team's pitching coach. "He's done a phenomenal job with the staff," Walker said.

Seven major league seasons included current Fallbrook infield coach Doug Baker, who was with the Detroit Tigers between 1984 and 1987 and the Minnesota Twins between 1988 and 1990. Marty Camacho is Fallbrook's catching and hitting coach. "We have a great staff," Walker said.

Fallbrook's first five games of 2015 were all part of the Pirate-Falcon Classic. The Warriors began tournament and season play March 7 with a 6-5 loss to Murrieta Valley. Fallbrook took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Nighthawks scored six times in the second inning. Spagnuolo was pulled during that inning, and Hoff began his high school mound career with five shutout innings to conclude the game. "We continued that on for seven more shutout innings," Walker said.

In the 1-0 home win March 10 against San Pasqual, Spagnuolo threw five scoreless innings before Hoff pitched the final two frames.

Because Murrieta Mesa was the home team March 12, the Rams did not bat in the bottom of the seventh. White threw a complete game in the 4-2 loss and extended the team's scoreless innings streak to 13 before Murrieta Mesa scored four times in the bottom of the second.

Del Norte traveled to Fallbrook for a March 14 game; the Warriors were on the winning end of the 14-4 final score and held the Nighthawks scoreless in five of the seven innings. "Had a lot of big hits," Walker said.

Berberet hit two home runs against Del Norte.

Great Oak entered the March 17 game ranked sixth among Riverside County teams. "Great Oak has some big-time players, so it was very exciting to watch," Walker said. All five of the game's runs were scored in the top of the first inning. "White just cruised," Walker said.

White faced the minimum 21 batters. "He had his changeup working and I would say from the third inning on just got ahead of hitters," Walker said. "He was aggressive and challenged hitters."

White struck out eight opposing batters. "He's got a great change-up and he keeps the ball down," Walker said.

White issued a walk in the first inning and walked his other batter to lead off the second frame. Both double plays began with ground balls up the middle, one to junior shortstop Esteban Gomez and one to junior second baseman Marc Henning. "Pretty important when you get that lead runner on, nobody out, when you get that double play," Walker said.

Fallbrook's six hits included five in the first inning. All six hits were off starter Hunter Johnson, who also walked one batter and hit one during his three innings on the mound. Great Oak then brought in left-hander Zeke Young, who has signed a letter of intent to pitch for Duke University. Young pitched four perfect innings.

"Very excited about this team and our chances this year," Walker said. "The kids believe, which is exciting. They're very confident."