Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018: Ex-Shen pitcher Anderson throws 7-plus no-hit innings

   Former Shenendehowa pitcher Ian Anderson, taken by the Atlanta Braves with the third overall pick of baseball's 2016 draft, combined with two other pitchers to throw 10 hitless innings Wednesday in what turned out to be a 6-3 loss.

   Anderson threw 7 2/3 hitless innings, striking out five and walking one, for the Florida Fire Frogs in the Florida State League. Two relievers extended the no-hitter through the 10th inning, but the Charlotte Stone Crabs registered a hit in the 11th and went on to a walk-off victory in the 12th.

   The Fire Frogs became the first FSL team to throw 10 hitless innings since Daytona's Kerry Wood and Jairup Diaz combined for a no-hitter in 1996.

   The stint on the mound, which came to a close after 100 pitches, was the longest in his career and continued a strong season for Anderson. Though sporting just a 2-5 record, Anderson lowered his ERA to 2.57 and has struck out 113 batters in 94 2/3 innings. He's allowed just two earned runs in his last five starts, spanning 29 2/3 innings.

   West Genny decides: Veteran coach Shaun Smith will be the new boys lacrosse coach at West Genesee, replacing the legendary Mike Messere.

   Smith, who has coached the varsity program at Corcoran (and now the combined Syracuse city schools team) since 2000, compared getting the Wildcats job to managing the New York Yankees or taking over the Syracuse University basketball program from Jim Boeheim.

   Messere retired this spring with 15 NYSPHSAA championships and a national-record 841 victories.

   Smith's record at Corcoran and with the combined city team is 180-158.

   "People look at numbers," West Genesee AD Michael Burns said. "But I think you need to look at the type of lacrosse talent he had there, compared to what he'll have here."

   Burns said that while Smith is not a West Genesee graduate, he lives in the district and his kids attended school there.

   "He knows what is expected out of a West Genesee team," he said.

   More coaching news: Greg Lauer is stepping down as boys basketball coach at Fredonia after 10 seasons to focus on his duties as athletic director.

   "Being a varsity basketball coach is a full-time job,” said Lauer, who became the AD last year. "I found that with all the time I was putting into being an athletic director, I wasn't able to do as much (as a coach) as I wanted to."

   Lauer expects longtime JV coach Nick Bertrando to take over the varsity team. He'd inherit a team that went 7-15 last season.

   On the move: Rising junior Aidan Hilderbrand is leaving John Jay East Fishkill to continue his basketball career at Iona Prep.

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   The 6-foot-5 guard averaged more than 20 points a game last season.

   Hilderbrand says he has started to hear from Division 1 schools but has not received an offer yet.

   College choice: Kailah Harris, fifth-team all-state in Class AA last season as an Ossining junior, has committed to Seton Hall.

   Progress update: The New York State Sportswriters Association will release its all-state team for boys lacrosse on Saturday morning. Work continues on the selections for the girls team, which will be announced shortly.

   Coach, activist dies: Ed Matott, a respected basketball coach at Nyack and soccer official, died Tuesday at the age of 89.

   Matott spent 37 years as a soccer official, serving on the New York State Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association Executive Committee since 1964. He officiated the first NYSPHSAA championship soccer game and later officiated a national championship game at the collegiate level. He was inducted into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

   Matott served two consecutive weekends in jail in 1975 after refusing to obey a temporary order to return to work while leading a 28-day Nyack Teachers Association strike as the association's president.

   "I strongly feel that all of us truly owe a deep, deep debt of gratitude for the Ed Matotts of the world," retired Pearl River AD Tom Doherty said of Matott's role in the strike. "I think it worked out things for a lot of us that we're still enjoying today as I sit here in my living room."