If he hadn’t solidified himself as the ace of the Pascack Valley pitching rotation before the season started, junior Jordan Issackedes has certainly made a compelling case thus far.

He threw a 69-pitch, seven strikeout, complete game shutout on April 17.

But it was his start five days before: an 87 pitch, eight strikeout, no-hitter, that put people, Issackedes included, on notice. PV ultimately won the game 10-0 behind a two-hit, three RBI game by first baseman Carson Weis.

“I was shocked and I didn’t really know I had a no-hitter going until going into the sixth inning,” he said. “Going back into the dugout, everyone was fired up and [head coach Will] Lynch told me I was high in pitch count, but that he wanted me to go back out there.”

After Issackedes finished off Tenafly in the top of the sixth inning, the PV offense stepped back up and scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and scored two runs. That led to the mercy rule being imposed, thus ending the game.

“After we scored those two runs in the sixth, [pitcher Jake] Klag looked at me and said ‘You just threw a no-hitter,” Issackedes said. “My response was basically just ‘wait what?’”

The strategy for the whole game was simple and constant—study the batters while they’re up at the plate, and adjust accordingly.

“As you go through the game, you get to figure out who’s a good hitter and who’s not, based on their swings and where they stand in the box and so that’s how we pitched to them,” catcher Jack Devanna, who called a majority of the pitches, said. “If they can’t prove to us they can’t hit the fastball, we’re not going to show them anything else.”

Come the sixth inning, Issackedes had figured out who the good hitters were, but he still had to make his pitches count, though up to that point, everything had been going according to plan.

“He [Issackedes] was having another good game and we did exactly what we wanted to do regardless of the no-hitter,” Devanna said. “We were just going through the motions”

But, high in pitch count, and admitting to being fatigued and his arm getting tired, Issackedes made it more about finesse pitching, rather than power pitching.

“When the sixth inning came, I was just focusing batter by batter because at that point, my arm was getting tired, so I knew I had to locate my pitches more and more and not throw as hard,” he said. “Just going pitch by pitch helped me take my time and finish the game.”

The no-hitter is Pascack Valley’s first since Jon Reich in 2010, and the first of Issackedes’ career, and for his efforts, he was named PV’s Athlete of the Week.

“It’s something I’ve never done before, so it was a crazy experience,” he said.

For more stories like this, as well as updates, check out The Smoke Signal’s baseball blog.