Zach Davidson said his curveball wasn't working Thursday.
And because it wasn't, the Helias senior pitcher had to make some adjustments to his arsenal against the Iberia Rangers. They worked.
Davidson used a combination of fastballs and change-ups on his way to throwing a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory against the Iberia Rangers at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"It's pretty special," Davidson said. "(Iberia) played hard, they swung the bat pretty well, but the defense was playing pretty well behind me."
It's Davidson's second no-hitter, throwing one last April against the Jefferson City Jays at Vivion Field. Davidson is the first Crusader pitcher with two no-hitters in the history of the program.
"That's quite an accomplishment," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "We've had some pretty good pitchers through the years."
Iberia had just two baserunners against Davidson - a one-out walk in the first and a two-out infield error in the seventh.
Davidson got the final two outs in the first on strikeouts. Those were the first of eight consecutive strikeouts for the lefty.
"He's quirky out there," Helias pitching coach Kelly Fick said. "He's got a lot of stuff flying at you and it's coming at a funky angle."
But without his curve, Davidson used a combination of fastballs and changeups more than usual Thursday.
"I couldn't throw a curveball for a strike, maybe once I think," he said. "I worked to try to place my fastball, keep it on the outside of the plate."
Fick said the change-up was the important pitch Thursday.
"That was a key pitch for Zach because his curve wasn't quite where it needed to be," he said. "Plus he was hammering the zone with his fastball and when you can change speeds like Zach can, show those different pitches, you're going to be successful, especially in high school."
The Crusaders made a handful of sterling defensive plays behind Davidson.
Helias centerfielder Zach Woehr had to sprint in to make a catch just off the turf for the first out of the fifth inning. In the sixth, Crusader first baseman Kaleb Haley stabbed a hard grounder down the line behind the bag to record an unassisted out to end the inning.
"That was a pretty good play," said Davidson, who has already signed to pitch next year at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill.
Davidson said while he was trying not to think about the no-hitter during the game, his teammates definitely were in the dugout.
"They get ready to talk about it and I said, 'no'," Davidson said.
The eight strikeouts in the first through third innings were Davidson's only Ks in the game. Iberia had seven flyouts and six groundouts as Davidson finished with 100 pitches, 64 for strikes.
"One, Zach understands who he is as a pitcher and what he has to do to be successful," Fick said. "Two, he knows how to go about his business every day in practice to prepare for his starts.
"He has put in the work."
Helias took the lead with a run in the second inning off Iberia starter Zach Voss.
Jacob Weaver reached on an error to start the inning and moved to second on a Davidson single before taking third when Iberia turned a double play.
Weaver then scored on an infield error.
The Crusaders added three runs in the third. Jason Binkley, Trevor Austin and Zach Paschal hit consecutive one-out singles to score one run, Woehr then made it 3-0 with an RBI grounder before Weaver doubled home Woehr.
Helias got its final run in the fifth. Austin led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on a grounder by Paschal.
Austin finished with two hits to pace a nine-hit Crusader attack.
Voss went the distance on the mound for Iberia (10-3, ranked No. 7 in Class 2), walking one and striking out three.
"This was a good win for us against a good team," Wyrick said.
Helias (11-1, ranked No. 2 in Class 4) is back in action Tuesday at Father Tolton.