The secret to the No-Hit Kid from New Hampshire's success isn't his 12-to-6 curve. It isn't his one-fingered knuckle slider or his changeup. And it isn't the fastball that's been clocked as high as 89 mph—the pitch he puts "just under the hands" when he needs a strikeout. No, when high school junior Brennen Oxford takes the mound Friday to go for his fifth consecutive no-hitter, the secret to how he got the first four will be hovering in the dugout near his Oyster River High (Durham, N.H.) teammates. It's an 18-inch long toy—a wooden snake called a What' Zit that's made of interconnecting blocks, held together with a bungee cord—that cost $4.95 but has become a priceless amulet "I usually just sit that in the dugout fence and hope it doesn't hit the ground," Oxford tells B/R about the good-luck charm he simply calls "Dugout Snake." "If it hits the ground, that's bad luck. And it has to be straight, too. Straight on the fence in the dugout, without hitting the ground." read more http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial
