Edison’s Appelman flirts with no-no, whiffs 17 Blue Jays in 4-0 GMC White win over Middlesex

It was 50 degrees at game time, no sun to speak of, with bone-chilling winds.

Edison senior Jaxon Appelman was red hot all afternoon.

Appelman took a 4-0 lead and a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Middlesex Thursday in a GMC White Division game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. But Blue Jay infielder Marcus Lavornia broke it up with a two-out single, and after striking out Dominic Long looking, Appelman finished with a one-hit complete game shutout, amassing 17 strikeouts along the way.

Appelman only allowed three baserunners the entire game. He hit Lavornia on a 3-2 pitch in the second, and walked leadoff Dylan Ianero to lead off the third. That was it until Lavornia broke up the bid with a single up the middle in the seventh, one which just got by Appelman’s glove as he reached up to try and grab it.

Appelman was dominant all day, with good speed on his fastball, and wicked movement on seemingly every pitch as he left Middlesex hitters fooled all afternoon. Of his 17 strikeouts, seven were caught looking.

Edison scored all its runs when the Eagles sent nine men to the plate in the fifth. After Dom Innocenti led off with a ground out, Teddy Eyler singled, then Appelman and Anthony Calantoni walked to load the bases. Robert Roma knocked in Eyler and Appelman with a single. Brody Ferrer drove in a run to make it 3-0 when he reached on E-6, and Shaun Garland plated the fourth run with another single before Middlesex starter Dylan Ianero got the last two hitters with strikeouts – his only two of the game – to get out of the inning.

Edison improves to 7-1, all in GMC White play, their best start to a season since they went 10-1 in 2001, before suffering their second loss of the season to JP Stevens on April 24th of that year.

Middlesex falls to 3-6, 2-5 in the White.

Click below for postgame reaction, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: