SOUTH PORTLAND — Henry Curran said modestly that when his stuff is on, “Everything works out pretty well.”

Curran, a senior left-hander, definitely was on Thursday, coming within three outs of his second high school no-hitter, finishing with a one-hitter and 14 strikeouts in a 4-0 win over Portland in an SMAA baseball game at Wainwright Field.

Jake Knop broke up Curran’s no-hitter when he bounced a grounder on a 1-and-2 count between third and short to lead off the seventh inning. Curran then struck out the final three batters.

Curran’s sharp performance resulted in a game that took 1 hour, 26 minutes to complete.

Curran had six strikeouts through three innings.

South Portland (10-1) entered the game seeded third in Western Class A. Portland (8-4) was ranked fourth.

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Curran said losing the no-hitter didn’t bother him.

“The team comes first,” he said. “The most important thing is that we got the win. This was a big win for us and will help us in our goal of getting a first- round bye in the playoffs.”

Curran had a perfect game until a Portland hitter reached on an error in the fifth.

“I was sort of aware of it,” said Curran of the perfect game. “My fastball was working and I was hitting my spots.”

The teams had to contend with windy conditions that made catching fly balls an adventure. Portland misplayed two fly balls.

Curran said he had stiffness in his shoulder before the game that he worked out.

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Curran pitched a no-hitter against Biddeford last year in a game that ended after five innings because of the 10-run rule. Two weeks ago he pitched a one-hitter against Cheverus with 19 strikeouts in a 1-0 win. Coach Mike Owens said this one was more impressive.

“I thought Henry was as sharp if not sharper today,” said Owens. “He had command of his fastball and was keeping it at the knees. He also had command of his curve. It was one heck of a pitching performance. Henry puts us in a good mental state when he’s on the mound. When he’s pitching and we get the lead, the players are a lot more relaxed.”

Owens also drove in a run with a triple to center in the fifth.

The game was scoreless until the Red Riots scored twice in the fourth. Sam Troiano reached on a two-base error when the Bulldogs misplayed his fly ball. Anthony Degifico then grounded a single between first and second to score Troiano. Jacob Brown’s triple down the right-field line scored Degifico to make it 2-0.

The Riots made it 4-0 in the fifth. After Curran’s triple scored Sam Solomon, Matt Beecher singled in Curran.

With the way Curran was throwing, the Riots had plenty of runs.

“He’s by far the best pitcher in the league,” said Portland Coach Mike Rutherford. “I’ve coached a lot of outstanding pitchers and he’s right up there with any of them. When he’s on the mound, South Portland is very tough to beat. We only hit a couple of hard balls against him.”

Portland’s usually strong defense suffered a letdown. “We usually catch those balls,” said Rutherford of the errors.

 


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