As a member of the LSU Alexandria baseball team, Michael Sutton is used to playing in front of sparse crowds.
So when a group of about 30 or so family, friends, friends of friends and 17-under players showed up at Pete Goldsby Field on July 15 to cheer for Sutton in his scheduled start against the Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators, he was pretty excited. And he really wanted to give his best.
Sutton certainly showed up.
The Baton Rouge native pitched six innings of no-hit ball, walking just two and striking out five to earn Texas Collegiate League Pitcher of the Week honors. Sutton hit his pitch count in the sixth, giving way to relievers Kaleb Howell and Kaiden Broussard, who finished with a combined 2-hitter and a 9-2 win.
“It was a pretty cool feeling,” Sutton said. “I’ve always been told that I’m more of a pitch-to-contact type of pitcher, so to throw six innings with no hits is not an easy feat for a guy like me that doesn’t really get a ton of strikeouts. It was a very rewarding feeling.”
And as solo no-hitters go the way of the dinosaur, Sutton said he was fine with having to leave the rest of the game to his relievers.
“If it was for my college, LSUA, I would have been pretty upset,” he said. “I was on a hard pitch count, so I was perfectly OK with them taking me out and protecting my arm.”
Rougarou pitching coach Mike Spears said it was an impressive outing for the Catholic High graduate and rising LSUA senior.
“Sutton had great command and challenged hitters all night,” Spears said. “He got ahead in the count and made the hitters hit his pitches.”
The 5-foot-10 left-hander started his college career at Mississippi College but, after two years, realized it wasn’t the right fit. After visiting LSUA, which he “absolutely fell in love with,” he transferred.
Sutton delivered for the Generals as well, going 8-5 in 14 appearances with 39 strikeouts as the team broke a single season record for wins and advanced to the NAIA playoffs, winning a regional game for the first time since 2014.
“I love the guys, I love the coaches, I love everything,” he said. “It’s a perfect fit for me. It was a very exciting year.”
Now back in Baton Rouge for the summer, he coaches a 17-under baseball team for the Louisiana Knights organization. And a few weeks ago, he joined the Rougarou for its second-half stretch. He’s 2-0 after last week’s win with a 0.00 earned run average, two walks and seven strikeouts in 12 innings. He is scheduled to start Wednesday night’s game at home against the San Antonio River Monsters.
In his first start against the Abilene Flying Bison a few weeks ago, he gave up two hits in six innings.
“I was like, ‘All right. That’s a pretty cool stat,’” he said. “So, I kind of worked on my craft throughout the week and my changeup was feeling really well the other night, so I threw that about 75 percent of the time. I got through about inning number four and I was like, ‘Oh! I haven’t given up a hit.’”
Sutton said he knows how rare no-hitters are at any level, so he is proud of his outing and thankful for the help he got from his teammates. In the sixth inning, someone knocked a line drive up the middle that second baseman Nicolas Schwing nabbed.
“He made a very good catch at second base for me,” Sutton said. “That saved the no-hitter. He made a really athletic play on the ball.”
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer