Luke McNeillie is no stranger to hot weather. Born in Georgia and pitching at the University Florida, the right-hander isn’t usually affected when temperatures rise.
But with temperatures hitting the high 80’s and humidity reaching 60 percent on Wednesday, the heat was no joke.
“ It was a hot, the hottest day of the summer up here in the Cape,” Harwich pitching coach Hunter Dilworth said. “Luke was drenched in sweat. So for a Florida boy, even to be drenched in sweat like that, shows how hot it was.”
On top of the hot weather, McNeillie was slated to start against the Cape League’s hottest offense in the Y-D Red Sox. On Tuesday, the Red Sox scored 13 runs on 14 hits against the Wareham Gatemen. Y-D leads the league with a .256 batting average and is second with 48 runs.
McNeillie matched the heat on Wednesday. He shut down the Red Sox through the first four innings of the game. No player could figure out his fastball-slider combo.
”Really just attacking hitters first pitch,” said the rising junior on his start. “Landing sliders when I needed to. And throwing heaters to get them off the slider mainly.”
With a fastball touching 94-95 mph, McNeillie had no problem getting misses.
While the Mariners lost 3-1, the story early on was McNeillie. Just a single batter reached base against him; a Jack Bell walk in the third was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect outing.
“ I was mad about the nine-hole walk, but it is what it is,” McNeillie said. “Can't do anything about it. Had some good plays behind me that saved the no-hitter.”
He finished his outing with five strikeouts, a total he reached four times during the spring at Florida. While it may be surprising to see a guy getting pulled in the fourth with a no-hitter going, yet his 54 pitches were the fourth most he threw all year.
With two starts under his belt, McNeillie has already matched his start totals from each of the past two seasons at Florida. After making 23 appearances out of the bullpen, the plan is for him to eventually transition into the rotation.
“ He's gonna keep building up and hopefully by the end of the summer he'll be a true starter and ready to roll for the spring for the Gators,” Dilworth said.
This summer should allow McNeillie the opportunity to build endurance. He only pitched four innings twice at Florida this season.
To this point, McNeillie has proven he can perform against the best. He’s allowed just three hits and recorded a 1.29 ERA in his two starts.
McNeillie will be crucial if Harwich wants to keep winning games in late July. With Jake McCoy getting shut down after his third start on Friday, Freddy Rodriguez potentially leaving for the MLB Draft, and Evan Dempsey going to Team USA the Mariners are going to count on him to be a stabilizing presence in the starting rotation.
With how he’s competed so far this summer, McNeillie has shown he can stay cool no matter what.
