There was no “championship” for Whitman’s Varsity Baseball Team this season, but the 2024 spring season will stand out with TWO no-hitters thrown by Wildcat pitchers! The first from Jaden Grose on April 9th and recognized as a big accomplishment for any high school pitcher. Then, lightning struck twice when senior Kevin Brown threw a no-hitter in a 6-0 win against Central Islip on May 10th to wrap up the regular season. The Wildcats made it to the Final 4 in Class AAA winning three playoff games to finish off a successful 2024 season.
“I, personally, have never seen two no-hitters in a season in my career in high school athletics,” said Athletic Director Dave Barth. “So I was floored. I called Coach [Keith] Barrett right away when he sent me the text message.”
It was feeling like a good day for Kevin even before the game against CI started because it was Senior Day for the Wildcats, a day to highlight and honor the accomplishments of Whitman seniors on the team before they graduate. And it was at Whitman’s home field at Memorial so there were plenty of family and friends already there to cheer Kevin on. He threw three strikeouts in the first inning.
Then came the fifth inning. “Coach Barrett came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to come out?’ because another senior was supposed to come in and pitch like originally planned. But then I was like, ‘I want to keep going.’ I was like, you know, locked in. I was kind of dialed. I didn't really have anything else in my mind,” said Kevin.
Kevin is grateful for the team backing him up as the game progressed. He admits he was nervous but a three run triple from Lucien Saint Cyr helped him relax a bit. Then came the last out against a player he had faced before. “I was familiar with him. And I remember him just being out front, like every off speed pitch. So I threw him two curve balls and then a change up and then put him away,” said Kevin.
And the celebration began. Catcher Mike Orgera gave Kevin the “last out” ball, and his Wildcat teammates mobbed him with congratulations. And, of course, there was a big hug from mom. Kevin says his favorite moment from every game is “my mom always screaming in the stands.”
Kevin has been playing baseball for most of his life starting with Pee Wee Ball and then a travel team. It wasn’t until eighth grade that he started pitching and grew to love it. The lefty will be going on to college in the fall where he’ll continue to play baseball pitching for Wesleyan University. He’s planning to major in Math with his eye on one day going into Engineering. As far as going into professional baseball, Kevin says “I’ll just see how it goes in college.”
Kevin’s advice for the JV and Varsity players making their way through the next few seasons at Whitman is to work hard over the off season. “I feel like that really helped me over this last off season, the junior to senior year. I definitely have been in the gym more working out, working on my pitches and stuff like that. I think that's really important and I kind of took it for granted in the past,” said Kevin.
Congratulations to Kevin Brown and Jaden Grose who were awarded All-County selections and also to Dylan Asma, Mike Orgera, Paul McNally and Lucien Saint Cyr on their selections as All-League players. Thank you to the entire team for a fine year!