Baseball: ‘I was just so locked in’ — Badin’s Driessen tosses no-hitter against CJ

DAYTON — The feeling started long before the first pitch.

By the time Badin senior right-hander Caleb Driessen stepped on the mound Wednesday, he already knew something was different.

“I was just so locked in,” Driessen said. “From school that day, to the bus ride, to warmups — everything just felt right.”

That feeling carried all the way through seven innings — and into history.

Driessen tossed a no-hitter against Chaminade Julienne, overpowering a respected lineup and leading the Rams to a dominant 5-0 road win in a performance that blended precision, emotion and control.

“He was Caleb Driessen tonight,” Badin coach Brion Treadway said. “He was on. What else is there to say about him?”

From the outset, Driessen attacked with confidence. Even an early defensive miscue — a first-inning error — did little to disrupt his rhythm. He responded immediately with a double play and a strikeout to end the threat.

That sequence set the tone.

“I got a little hyped after that,” Driessen said. “I was like, ‘OK, here we go.’”

From there, he settled into a groove, mixing strikeouts with weak contact as the innings passed. By the fourth inning, everything he had felt in warmups was translating to the game.

“What was working in the pen was coming onto the field,” said Driessen, who finished with 10 strikeouts.

Driessen didn’t allow himself to think too far ahead — at least not for long. The thought of a no-hitter briefly crept around the fifth inning, but he quickly shut it down.

“I’ve seen what that does to people,” he said. “So I just told myself to keep executing, keep doing your thing.”

That mindset carried him into the seventh, where the challenge intensified. Facing the top of the Chaminade Julienne order, Driessen turned inward.

“I told myself, ‘Who wants it more?’” he said. “And I decided it was going to be me.”

Pitch by pitch, he dug deeper.

A strikeout. A fly out. And then — with another strikeout — history.

Driessen didn’t rush off the mound. He paused, soaking it in, before unleashing a roar toward the sky.

“I just cherished it,” Driessen said. “Every second of it.”

Despite the magnitude of the moment — his first no-hitter at the high school level — the celebration was relatively subdued. That, Driessen said, speaks to the standard inside the Badin program.

“It’s almost like they’re used to it,” he said chuckling. “Not the no-hitter, but just winning and playing well. We’ve got great coaching, great defense, great offense. Everybody just does their job.”

That defense played a key role behind him, turning balls in play into outs and preserving the gem.

“It was a great night all around,” said Driessen, a Miami University commit. “Our guys were stellar.