Lengfelder tosses no-hitter for Elkhart County Miracle

Jun. 16—NAPPANEE — Ethan Lengfelder had a Philly cheesesteak and a few adult beverages late Thursday night.

"What else do you do after you throw a no-hitter?" Lengfelder said.

It took just 14 games into the Elkhart County Miracle's existence to produce one of baseball's rarest performances. Lengfelder was the author of the masterpiece Thursday, throwing 124 pitches in stifling the Lake County Corn Dogs to the tune of a 6-1 victory at NorthWood High School.

Lengfelder issued three walks and hit another batter in the contest. The Miracle also committed one error in the contest, coming in the eighth inning. Lake County scored its lone run on a fielder's choice in the top of the fourth, then managed nothing else the rest of the contest.

For the final out of the game, Lengfelder struck out Ray Hillbrich, one of the top hitters in the Northern League so far this season.

"When it got to the ninth inning and it was 2-3-4 (in the lineup) again, I was like, 'Alright, it all matters here on that 4-hole' because (Hillbrich) — God, he's good. He's really good, and he's scary," Lengfelder said. "I started that at-bat by pitching around him, and then once I got a fastball down and in on him, I was like, 'OK, I've got some momentum.' And then I threw a changeup, and he had an awkward swing, so I thought, 'Oh, he's mine now.' And all I had to do was throw another decently-placed changeup, and I did."

Lengfelder knew something special was going on once his team took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

"I knew what we had going on going into the sixth inning after we scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth, and all I knew was I had to get through the 2-3-4 hitters again to make sure that we win the game and complete what I did," Lengfelder said.

The scene once the final out was recorded was pure pandemonium. Lengfelder's teammates swarmed him on the mound, showering him with water and Gatorade.

"It was just complete madness," Lengfelder said. "Nothing seemed like it was true. ... I'm going through all the videos from the dugout and what we have, and I don't even remember it. It was just cool looking at our bench and everyone going crazy."

The fact that Lengfelder was even able to have this big moment seemed impossible three years ago.

After a strong high school career in Iowa, Lengfelder enrolled at Iowa Wesleyan, a junior college in Mount Pleasant. After a season there, he transferred to Williston State College in North Dakota.

In that timeframe, Lengfelder was pitching one day and heard a pop in his shoulder. After initially being diagnosed with a muscle strain, he went through some rehab and returned back to the mound.

Another pop then came, though, and Lengfelder was unable to move his shoulder at all.

A new diagnosis then came in: the right-hander has a partially torn labrum and rotator cuff.

"I was told if I had surgery that I'd have a 5% chance to ever throw again," Lengfelder recalled. "I never thought I'd be able to play again."

Motivated to defy the odds, Lengfelder linked up with a friend of his back in his hometown of Missouri Valley, Iowa, and got to work on trying to make it back to collegiate baseball.

"I worked my butt off," Lengfelder said. "A lot of people don't know, but I put a lot of hard work and dedication into just trying to get back into baseball ... by the end of COVID, I got an offer to go play baseball again. I took it with everything I had, and I wanted to make sure that I didn't even let another door close."

That offer came from the place he started his collegiate journey, Iowa Wesleyan. After he heard that the school was going to be closing down in the near future, though, Lengfelder was able to transfer once again, this time to Bethel University in Mishawaka. He spent the 2023 season on the Pilots' roster, pitching 16 innings across 11 total appearances.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the year he missed due to injury, the 22-year-old Lengfelder still has two years of eligibility remaining at Bethel.

That doesn't matter to him right now, as Lengfelder is focused on being the best leader he can be for a Miracle team that had won three-straight games going into Friday night's road contest at the Griffith Generals.

"As our captain and being close to mostly everyone on the team, it's about keeping guys cool and keeping guys calm," said Lengfelder of being able to sustain the winning streak. "We're trying to keep the energy up, too, especially on this little run we're on right now. The energy in our dugout has been amazing, and everyone's kind of doing their part. I think with (manager Willson Valera) and (team owner Craig Wallin) weeding out some bad eggs and some bad apples, the team's kind of come together a lot more.

"Being someone who's respected by everyone and has taken on this leadership role, I see it and I just want to keep running with it no matter what."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.