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No Mo' No-No's For High School Phenom

Patrick Schuster's bid for a 5th straight no-hitter comes up short

By Todd Wright

| Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009 | Updated 9:13 AM EST

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Patrick Schuster finally proved he was hittable Tuesday.

Pitching phenom Patrick Schuster came up short in his bid to throw a fifth straight no-hit game on Tuesday.

The Mitchell High School ace had put together a string of four no-hitters going into Tuesday's district tournament game, but gave up a double in the third inning in front of more than 1,000 fans.

With a horde of media and large crowd watching at a high school field in Clearwater, the lanky left-hander received a standing ovation despite giving up the hit.

Schuster didn’t seem to react to giving up the hit, weird considering he wasn’t used to giving them up.

The last time Schuster gave up a hit, Mexico didn’t have the flu, Miss California wasn’t gay rights enemy No. 1, and the Marlins were actually good.

That would be March 24 to be exact.

The national record for consecutive no-hitters by a high school pitcher is six.

Schuster, a four-star pitching prospect, captured the state record when he turned in his fourth straight no-no last week at his home field in New Port Richey near Tampa.

The story doesn’t have the best ending, either.

Schuster and his team lost the game, 9-4, and was eliminated from the playoffs.