When less than a half-game separates third place from sixth, the focus for any baseball team is win the next game.
So it should come as no surprise that Kalon Babchuk was dialed in on picking up a victory when he got the call to start for the Red Deer CarStar Rangers in Baseball Alberta Elite League action on Sunday, July 5.
Up against a struggling Fort McMurray Oil Giants squad for a doubleheader, the Rangers were in the logjam of six teams with between 14 and 17 wins on the season.
They had also been surging with a four-game winning streak, including a triumph over the Oil Giants earlier in the day.
Riding that momentum, Babchuk went to work early and often, delivering a near-perfect, no-hit performance in a 13-0 win.
“The thought of a no-no hadn’t really crossed my mind until a teammate jokingly pointed out that I had lost a perfect game in the third inning,” the righthander told Alberta Dugout Stories. “I hadn’t given up a hit at that point so I was just inclined to continue on the same path.”
He says it didn’t take long for thoughts of the no-hitter to disappear again until the final out was registered and the dogpile began.
FEELIN’ GOOD
Babchuk admits something just felt right heading into the contest.
After battling some mechanical adjustments and consistency issues through the first few weeks of the season, he says he felt better than he did all season.
“I had made a lot of progress this past week or so and, when I finally got on the mound, I knew it was going to be a great day,” Babchuk said. “I felt comfortable on the mound again and, after the first quick inning, I was ready to keep rolling.”
Even his coach noticed early on that his young moundsman was feeling different.
“Kalon had all four of his pitches working for strikes and was able to consistently keep hitters off-balance,” said Rangers dugout boss Jeff MacDonald. “He was getting ahead with first pitch strikes and was working with tempo and confidence.”
It also didn’t hurt that the Red Deer offense provided some cushion as well for their hurler, picking up two runs in the first inning and another six in the third.
RIDING A WAVE OF MOMENTUM
Rolling with an 8-0 lead, Babchuk says he was able to play more with his full arsenal.
With his fastball and curveball dominating Oil Giants hitters, he broke out his splitter in the fourth inning for the first time.
He kept racking up outs while the Rangers’ defense played solidly behind him.
With another five runs on the board, Babchuk came back out for the sixth inning to put the wraps on the mercy victory.
“Going back out for the last inning was extremely thrilling,” he said. “That adrenaline that you feel at the start of the game had come back.”
The twirler says he wasn’t even focused on the no-hitter.
“I was picturing the feeling of being able to go and shake my catcher’s hand after throwing a complete game for a win,” Babchuk said. “The tension was quite high though as it wasn’t an ordinary win.”
He finished out the 50-strike, 76-pitch outing by inducing a pop-out from Maddox Oake. Instead of that aforementioned handshake, the winning pitcher was surrounded by his teammates all soaking in the moment.
His final line: six innings pitched, no runs, no hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
ONE OF THE GOOD ONES
MacDonald says he wasn’t surprised that a “team-first guy” like Babchuk was seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the situation.
He says the Stettler Minor Ball product is selfless in every sense of the word, adding the baseball world needs more of them like Babchuk.
“The no-hitter was the icing on the cake for him, as he’s very detailed in his work off the field and works hard day in and day out at his craft,” said MacDonald, who has been the team’s pitching coach in previous years.
“Kalon is a true student of the game and is most deserving of this moment.”
After the game, Babchuk was already thinking about the next game and what needs to happen next in the Rangers’ quest to qualify for the BAEL playoffs as they are, after all, still in the middle of what seems to be a wild race to the finish.
However, it isn’t stopping him from taking a moment to cherish what he and his team were able to accomplish.
“When that last ball was caught, a sense of relief overwhelmed me and I was absolutely ecstatic,” Babchuk said. “The weight of how truly special the outing was didn’t set in until after I had some time to actually think about what I had accomplished.”
It was certainly a special afternoon in Red Deer that he and his teammates won’t soon forget.
