Throwing a no-hitter is often considered the highlight of one season. But how about back-to-back no-hitters? That's exactly what Ryan Wright and Justin Reeve have done for the Afton baseball team. But they're not worried about that being a highlight. They want to use it as a springboard for the rest of the season.

The Afton Crimson Knights are 12-1, tied for the top spot in the MAC and winners of 10 straight.

"After the loss to Unatego, I think we all realize how much we don't like losing," said senior first baseman Carter Burns. "So we kind of just dug in and took the extra steps to be better than we were."

That marked the last loss for the Knights, almost one month ago to the date. The team followed it up with a dominant 16-0 over Harpursville before bouncing the defending Section IV Champs Deposit-Hancock 3-2.

"We just shut every team down and we're strong," said junior catcher Matt Carman. "We can do whatever we need."

"Confidence is at an all-time high right now," said senior pitcher Justin Reeve.

And it should be. That winning streak included big wins like a 21-0 victory over Charlotte Valley, an 11-0 decision over Delhi, and an 18-0 win over Oxford.

"Well, this season, we just wanted to build off of what we had last year with a few new guys, young guys coming in," said junior pitcher Ryan Wright. "And we wanted to get them to where they needed to be before the big games really started happening. But I think we've all really showed up this year and I think we really want to win."

Afton pitched five-straight shutouts, spanning 30 innings, with both junior Ryan Wright and senior Justin Reeve vying not to give up the first run.

"We were seeing who gave up the first run and it was me," Reeve joked.

And that wasn't the only friendly competition the two had during that run. Against Oxford, Justin threw a five-inning no-hitter picking up 12 strikeouts in 17 at-bats...

"I go into the game thinking I'm going to throw one and I push myself to try and throw one," Reeve said. "But my teammates informed me a little bit into the game and I just kept doing my thing, kept getting ahead in the count and managed to throw a no-hitter."

Forty-eight hours later, the Crimson Knights would do it again...this time, it was Ryan Wright, spinning a five-inning no-no against Walton, nothing new for the junior.

"My freshman year I did the same thing against Walton," Wright said. "I thought about that a lot. So it just felt good to do the same thing again."

And if the winning streak and record don't show that these starts weren't flukes, the numbers will. Wright has struck out 90 batters this season, more than 10 per start with an ERA of 1.38. And if you're lucky enough to avoid a Wright bump day, you'll have to face Reeve, who's ERA is even better at 1.00 across 39 innings.

"Well, the two pitchers, they've been dominant on the mound coming into the game and all the way through," said head coach Robert Bronson.

But the man behind the plate, Matt Carman, deserves just as much recognition. The Afton catcher holds a .660 on-base percentage and defensively, his pitchers trust him to call a clean game.

"He normally calls the game and if I shake him off he gives me the same sign," Wright said. "He needs me to throw it, I'll throw it."

So back-to-back no-nos, a shutout streak that lasted 30 innings and first-place in their division, you'd think that's a lot to celebrate for the Crimson Knights.

"We flush it, next game we're right back to the drawing board," Carman said.

Because that's just the Afton way, win one game and put one foot in front of the other.

"One day at a time, one practice, one game," Bronson said. "We're not looking too far down the road."

Afton will play Delhi in round one of the MAC Semifinals on Wednesday.