By the sixth inning Tuesday night, a silent sense of anticipation bubbled through the crowd at Luther Williams Field. The newly christened Browning Rifle still had not misfired.
That made it fourteen straight innings of no-hit ball over his last two starts. Tommy Browning seemed unhittable.
Unhittable, but not unscored upon. In a fluke fourth inning, the Hickory Crawdads bunched a walk, a wild pitch, and a two-base throwing error into a 1–0 lead. Fluke, it seemed, because every out recorded was a strikeout.
The fact that the Peaches were losing made the possibility of a second straight Browning no-hitter more bizarre. Would the accomplishment be as great if the Peaches lost? Would the celebration be muted?
Bucky Beavers wasn’t worried. “Just keep throwing them darts,” he said to his pi
