Plover native Austin Schulfer has allowed only 16 hits in 33 and 2/3 innings pitched this season for the Single A Cedar Rapids Kernels. (Cassie Rottink/Cedar Rapids Kernels photo)

Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

Plover native and former Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) pitcher Austin Schulfer threw a combined no-hitter for the Single A Cedar Rapids Kernels Wednesday, May 22.

In his second season in the minor league system for the Minnesota Twins, Schulfer struck out seven and walked one in five no-hit innings.

Teammate Jose Martinez retired each of the six batters he faced to complete the no-hitter in a 9-0 win over the Burlington Bees (Iowa) in the second seven-inning game of a doubleheader at Perfect Game Field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“Everything was working,” Schulfer told MiLB.com after the game. “I put in a lot of work in the off-season and in Spring Training with the coaches and staff, just being able to throw everything and anything in any count, and (Wednesday) that’s exactly what happened.

“(Catcher Chris Williams) and I were on the same page all day,” he said. “I think I shook him off once in five innings.”

Schulfer is 4-2 with a 2.41 ERA in 33 and 2/3 innings for Cedar Rapids (21-24) this season, with 21 walks and 47 strikeouts.

A 19th-round selection by the Twins in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft last June out of the NCAA Division 1 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Schulfer has limited opponents to a .139 batting average this season, and has now thrown eight consecutive hitless innings.