Jamie Piccuillo turned in the pitching performance of his career. The Newtown High School ace, Fairfield University-bound righty was unhittable. He used his fastball — which ranges from 87 to 90 miles an hour — splitter, and slider to keep opposing batters off-balance to the tune of eight strikeouts en route to a no-hitter as the Newtown High School baseball team blanked visiting Pomperaug of Southbury 2-0 on April 27.

"I felt really good. The slider was working — I feel like I threw it where I wanted," said Piccuillo, who also got 13 outs from his fielders, who played errorless ball. "A lot of great plays by the infield."

His batterymate, catcher Ryan Schmidt, was a key factor in the dominant effort, not only working with Piccuillo throughout the game but making a pair of throws to first on dropped third strikes to get the outs. "I have the most trust in him, he's really good," Piccuillo said.

Second baseman Trevor Stott turned a first-inning double play when he caught a line drive and threw to first baseman Jack Carta to double up the runner who had walked. Stott and shortstop Chris Moseman combined on a handful of other middle infield plays, with Moseman making a particularly tough play look easy on one of the ground balls he handled. Third baseman JT Walsh was responsible for a pair of outs, including handling a sacrifice bunt and throwing to first.

In the outfield, Travis Rekos caught a fly ball in center, and Kieran Garrity made a pair of catches in right.

Piccuillo has had some stellar outings this season, including a 13-strikeout two-hitter against Stratford, giving him an amazing 0.28 earned run average, allowing just one run in 25 innings of work, and posting a 3-0 mark in April. It was his first high school no-hitter and first no-hitter since he was in youth ball at 13 or 14 years old, a handful of seasons ago.

"I feel great the kid finally got it. He's going to do great things next year," Schmidt said. "The slider was working great, fooling hitters; his fastball was pumping."

"He's got a lot of movement on his fastball and that slider is devastating. It can be unhittable," NHS Coach Ian Thoesen said.

Piccuillo ended the game with a strikeout looking in an efficient 82-pitch effort. He worked out of some trouble, including a baserunner at third with one out in the fifth inning and NHS clinging to a 1-0 lead at the time. A walk, sacrifice bunt, and wild pitch put the tying run just 90 feet away, but Piccuillo dug deep and got consecutive strikeouts to escape. With Newtown ahead 2-0 in the sixth, Piccuillo got around a leadoff walk and stolen base. He got a lot of quick outs to keep his pitch count down, but also battled back in the count to retire batters.

"He battles," Thoesen said.

"It's awesome. Jamie was unbelievable today. Big-time pitcher — senior captain right there — and he did what he needed to do," the Newtown coach said. "He was dominant today."

Dominance is one thing. Complete dominance, and the opposing team not catching a break with a bloop hit here or there, is another.

"It's so hard," Thoesen said of throwing a no-no. "Things have to work right."

Thoesen added that the fielders had to make the plays and did their jobs.

The Nighthawks broke the scoreless tie in the fourth. Stott reached on an error and advanced to second, then moved to third on a tag-up after a line drive from Schmidt. Walsh followed with a sacrifice fly to bring Stott home for the game’s first run.

The Nighthawks added insurance in the fifth. With two outs, Lucian Place singled before being replaced by pinch runner Oscar Nordt, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Carta then delivered an RBI single to score Nordt.

"It was huge," Piccuillo said of the Nighthawks breaking through for that first run. "Just makes me more confident."

Just like the Nighthawks are always feeling good when he takes the mound and toes the rubber — especially after that gem.

The Nighthawks improved to 4-6 after losing 15-5 to visiting Bethel on April 22 and 4-3 at Weston on April 24.

Against Bethel, Place delivered in the middle of the lineup, driving in two runs. Pete Eppers (double), Carta (double and triple), and Schmidt each added an RBI.

In the Weston game, the Nighthawks outhit the Trojans 10-7 with Eppers and Luke Libero leading the way with two hits apiece. Despite the offensive production, the Nighthawks couldn’t overcome a go-ahead single by Weston in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Newtown struck first in the opening frame. Moseman worked a walk and scored on a Place double. The advantage grew in the second inning. Carta led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Libero beat out an infield single to plate Carta and make it 2-0. Weston responded in the bottom of the third, stringing together three runs to take a 3-2 lead.

Newtown answered in the fourth to even things. Libero reached on another infield single and stole second before Travis Rekos reached on an error that allowed Libero to score the tying run. The game remained deadlocked until the sixth, when Weston broke through with the decisive run. Eppers, Libero, and Rekos had stolen bases.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.