Shinnston native and former West Virginia University pitcher Levi Maxwell made history last Friday night when the right hander fired a 7 inning no hitter for the Winston Salem Dash.
Winston Salem is the class A Advanced affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Maxwell, who was an 18th round draft pick to the White Sox back in 2007, led Lincoln High School to a AA state championship in 2003. He pitched and won the state title game for the Cougars.
The 6’3” hurler had a breakout year in the White Sox organization last summer by going 15-5 for the Kannapolis Intimidators. Kannapolis is Chicago’s class A farm club that is a member of the South Atlantic League. His 15 wins led the league and Maxwell also received an organizational award for the best control in the White Sox minor league system.
Going into the 2009 campaign Maxwell had very high expectations and hopes. However, things didn’t start out very well for the former Mountaineer.
Maxwell started the season by dropping his first eight decisions.
“I couldn’t find a rhythm, I was off and getting behind hitters. I walked too many and gave up too many runs early. It was frustrating because I couldn’t catch a break, but that’s baseball” Maxwell commented.
After the miserable start, he has turned things around. In his last two starts he is 2-0, allowing only one earned run over 13 innings. During the stretch, Maxwell has allowed only five hits including every pitchers dream, the no hitter.
In game one of a double header last Friday, Maxwell took the mound against the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Seven innings later he made history as the Dash won 4-0 on his first career no hitter at any level.
Maxwell only allowed three Blue Rock hitters to reach base, all on walks. The right hander picked two of those base runners off and the third was erased on a steal attempt. So in 7 innings he faced the minimum of 21 hitters.
The Maxwell gem was the first no hitter in three years in the Carolina League and the first in nine years for Winston Salem.
“It is something that you hope will happen to you at some point, but you never expect it. I had no idea it was going on until the sixth inning. That is when everybody in the dugout was staring at me and the pitching coach wouldn’t talk to me. Then I realized what was happening. I was just trying to put zeros up in run column but ended up putting a zero up in the hit column. It was incredible; I will always remember that moment.” Maxwell said.
