Ryan Hendrix unknowingly closes out Team USA's no-hitter vs. Cuba

What are your plans for July 4th?

Team USA's are simple: ballin'.

Three SEC pitchers — Missouri's Tanner Houck, Florida's A.J. Puk and Texas A&M's own Ryan Hendrix — combined for a historic no-hitter of Cuba on Wednesday night, giving the Stars and Stripes' Collegiate National Team a 2-0 victory in the first of a five-game series.

As our friends at D1Baseball were quick to point out, this is kind of a big deal. To keep it simple: no one has ever no-hit the Cubans in international play.

"This isn’t just a group of college-aged Cubans; this team features most of the best players Cuba has to offer, a bunch of physically imposing fully grown men in their 20s and 30s," Aaron Fitt wrote. "Facing a group of American underclassmen who are still developing."

After Houck and Puk had both thrown four scoreless innings apiece, Hendrix entered the game with the save and the no-hitter on the line. The best part: he had no clue.



It did. It did.

Hendrix, who later said his parents had driven 15 hours to North Carolina to watch the game, got three ground-ball outs to ice it before realizing he had just completed a no-hitter.

In summary: SEC = USA. You're welcome, America.

Happy July 4th.