Lefty Mike Kickham of the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars tossed the eighth no-hitter in Atlantic League history with a 1-0 win over the Staten Island FerryHawks on Saturday, June 14.
Kickham walked two and struck out 12 while using 114 pitches in the no-no. He retired the first 11 hitters he faced before hitting Mark Contreras with a pitch with two outs in the fourth. He then walked Matthew Scheffler before getting Shane Fontana to pop out to shortstop to escape the inning.
He walked Aaron Takacs in the fifth but induced a pair of infield pop outs to end the inning. Kickham then retired the final 12 batters he faced, getting Contreras to fly out to left for the final out.
At 36 years old, Kickham is the second-oldest Atlantic Leaguer to throw a no-hitter. Lincoln Mikkelsen of Atlantic City no-hit Lancaster on June 16, 2006 at age 38. He joins Lenny Di Nardo and Jeff Miednik as the only left-handers to throw ALPB no-hitters. DiNardo of Lancaster beat Long Island on May 8, 2013 and Jeff Miednik of Gastonia shut down Hagerstown over seven innings on Sept. 2, 2024.
For the year, Kickham is now 3-3 with a 4.76 ERA. The Missouri State product was a sixth round draft choice of the San Francisco Giants in 2010. He made his Major League debut in 2013 and has also pitched in the Majors for the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
A member of the Lexington Legends in 2023, Kickham is in his second year with the Flying Boxcars after going 7-14 last season.
There were five Atlantic League no-hitters thrown from 2001 through 2013 before a 10-year gap. Long Island’s Robert Stock threw a no-hitter at Southern Maryland on July 18, 2023 and there has been at least one no-hitter thrown now for three consecutive seasons.