There was nothing that could stop Sylvan Lake Gulls pitcher Ty Boudreau from achieving the franchise’s first solo no-hitter on Saturday.
The second-year Gull threw 120 pitches and a mind-boggling 12 strikeouts through nine innings of work in a 16-0 win against the Weyburn Beavers on the road in Saskatchewan.
It’s fair to say Boudreau was in the zone, a phrase often used to describe when a player is so focused nothing else seems to matter or distract you from your goal and usually leads to a career game.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” Boudreau told the Advocate. “Throughout the game, I think I talked to about two people I was locked in. I was staring off into the distance just thinking you know no one really could distract me because I was locked in. I think when it really hit me was after the game and my catcher Ben Prediger came up and grabbed me.
“I kind of just, you watch the video, and my legs just gave out. It’s just like everything was gone I was in my own zone until everyone started high-fiving me and hitting me on the back. I was in my own little zone and I was enjoying the moment the whole time.”
This is Boudreau’s second no-hitter of his career, with the first coming many years ago when he was younger. It was without a doubt one of the best games he’s pitched and explained he started to believe he had a really good chance of making history after he felt the energy of the match change when they started scoring runs.
“Everyone behind me was hyped up and all ready to go. My catcher was pumping me up 24/7 around the seventh or eighth inning and that’s when I started to realize like ok I’m in this let’s get it done let’s finish the job,” he said.
On top of his pregame routine, Boudreau said in between innings there were five or six of his teammates who did the exact same thing in the dugout to help Boudreau before going back out on the field.
“It was a big team effort. Little things here and their people would do like hold my sweater, high-five me in a certain place, we were playing superstitious the whole game. There were no little places where something wasn’t going on before I was back on that mound,” he said adding he took a nap before the game, which is something he doesn’t normally do.
This season Boudreau is 3-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 25 strikeouts, with the only loss coming against the Okotoks Dawgs on June 1 during the home opener.
Overall he is happy with the way he’s pitching right now but admitted he does have aspects of his game to improve on, despite pitching arguably the best game of his career just three days ago.
This also happened to be the Gulls first solo no-hitter in the history of the franchise, which is an accomplishment Boudreau said is hard to explain the feeling. But to read he is the first in Gulls history to him is unbelievable.
Boudreau was born and raised in Nova Scotia but later on, found a home in Calgary.
In Grade 10 he began his baseball career by joining the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball in Vauxhall, Alta. and played there until Grade 12.
He credits the academy with pushing him to where he is today and also helping him find a place with the Gulls. At 14 years old he decided to make a career and really focus on baseball when he joined the academy. His dream would be to make Major League Baseball but for now, is focusing on paying his tuition to make it easy for his parents.
With the Gulls set to return home Wednesday, Boudreau said there isn’t an atmosphere in the Western Canadian Baseball League that compares to what they’ve built in Sylvan Lake.
“It’s unbelievable, compared to the other places it’s not even close. We’ll average over 1,000 a game like some people don’t even get 500 a game. Our atmosphere is through the roof compared to everyone else,” he said.
The Gulls also played on Sunday beating the Regina Red Sox 9-1 on the road. They won three and lost one during the Saskatchewan road trip and after the June 15 game against Swift Current was cancelled due to rain, they will play a double header in Swift Current on July 5 to make up for it.
The Gulls are 11-7 on the year and second in the West Division with two home games on hand against the Edmonton Prospects on June 22 and 23 at Gulls Stadium this week.
After that, they will hit the road again playing the Okotoks Dawgs on June 24 before heading to Brooks to play the Bombers on June 25 and again on the 26.