When the Carolina Mudcats left town on Tuesday after winning three of the five games in their series with Jacksonville, the popular belief among Suns players and staff was that they had seen the last of Mudcats pitcher Travis Wood.Two days earlier, Wood pitched a masterpiece. He allowed three hits in the first four innings and then retired the final 17 batters in order. It took Wood 107 pitches to throw his first complete game as a professional in leading Carolina to a 2-0 win. He left little doubt where the performance ranked among his best-pitched games during his five years in the minor leagues."That was the best," he said. "I've never had a complete game before. There's nothing that can top that."That is, until Wood's next outing. On Friday against the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. The 22-year-old left-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a two-out single, the only hit he allowed in his seven innings. He walked a batter to start the game, then retired the next 19 batters.In Wood's last 22 innings, he hasn't allowed a run and has given up seven hits with two walks and 26 strikeouts.Wood, 6-3 with a 1.11 ERA, lost all three of his starts in April despite allowing two earned runs in 22 innings. In Wood's last five outings (36 innings) he has allowed 19 hits, two earned runs, four walks and has 34 strikeouts.The ERA, his 81 innings pitched and 69 strikeouts all rank as No. 1 in the Southern League. He's allowed just one home run."At this point, everything's just been so great," Wood told MLB.com. "I've been throwing well this season. Everything's been going so well, it's just kind of rolling into one. [This start] is up there, but you don't want to put too much emphasis on it."
