AMERICAN ASSOCIATION of Independent Professional Baseball

So it wasn’t Phil Mickelson’s week. The same cannot be said for Lincoln Mikkelsen.

Lincoln Mikkelsen is an Independent Baseball lifer if ever there was one, and even though he turns 39 next month he turned in the game of his life last Friday when he hurled the Atlantic League’s third no-hitter in its nine-year history. Mikkelsen, who also is the pitching coach for Atlantic City, NJ, did not allow a Lancaster, PA runner beyond first base while nailing a 1-0 victory.

Joe Gannon threw a no-no for Newark, NJ in 2004 and Rod Henderson had one for Long Island, NY in 2001.

I loved what Atlantic City Manager Jeff Ball told the media: “My heart was pumping so hard it was moving my shirt.” Ball said he had never seen a no-hitter while Mikkelsen now has five on his career log, back-to-back-to-back gems in high school and another Indy blanking for Minot, ND in the long-defunct Prairie League in 1996.

Even though the Prairie League stop was a decade ago it was Mikkelsen’s third Independent league. He was part of the very first Northern League season of 1993 when the best known of his Duluth, MN teammates probably was Wayne Rosenthal, now the minor league pitching coordinator for the Florida Marlins.

Mikkelsen went on to the North Central League in 1994, was in and out of affiliated baseball, then pitched in Mexico and Taiwan before finding a home in the Atlantic League in 2001.

The no-hitter is part of a great turnaround season for this Montague, MI guy. “I was so embarrassed about last year, you can’t even imagine,” workout workaholic Mikkelsen told The Press of Atlantic City’s Susan Lulgjuraj, when discussing his 6-12, 5.60 season for the Surf.

After coming back with seven innings of two-run baseball against the same Barnstormers Wednesday night, the righthander has a 5-1 record and league-leading 1.29 earned run average. His career record has shot up to 82-60, and he also has settled into the pitching coach part of his job, with the Surf’s staff leading the Atlantic League with a nifty 3.17 ERA.

-Tragedy Strikes American Association Hurler

Pensacola, FL officials moved quickly Wednesday hours after standout American Association pitcher Rusty Begnaud (6-2, 2.70) of New Iberia, LA broke his neck in a swimming pool dive.

While Begnaud, 25, had undergone surgery and was said to be paralyzed from the chest down, Pelicans Owner Quint Studer addressed fans before Wednesday’s game asking them to keep the former Kansas City farmhand in their prayers. And the team raised the first $1,200 to help in his recovery. Anyone may contribute by calling 800 807-7227 and asking for the Gulf Breeze Branch of People’s First Bank.

Games go on, but there are times when they clearly are second in importance.

(This is an excerpt from the weekly column Bob Wirz writes on Independent Baseball. Fans may subscribe at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his new blog (www.IndyBaseballChatter.com ) or comment to RWirz@aol.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and is located in Stratford, CT.)