BLOOMFIELD HILLS >> With three losses by a combined five runs in its first four games, Bloomfield Hills was hungry to come out on the right side of a close game Wednesday afternoon.

Even with a near-flawless performance from senior starting pitcher Sawyer Cooney, the team’s fifth game of the year was again about as close as it gets.

Cooney went the distance and delivered a no-hitter for the Black Hawks, who edged out Birmingham Groves 1-0 in the first contest of a three-game series.

And yet, the Falcons could have still won the game when down to their final out. Michael West reached on an error, then Cooney allowed his first walk of the day to Groves starter Sebastian Shorter to open the top of the seventh inning, putting the winning run on first. Cooney, though, fanned two batters in a row, then induced a grounder to second to put the finishing touches on the no-no.

“I was aware (of it),” said Cooney, who struck out a dozen batters in the process. “A couple teammates, they didn’t want to say it, but it was mentioned a couple times, so I knew. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a (complete game no-hitter), honestly. This might be the first one.”

The hurler used his fastball to get ahead in counts more often than not, which allowed him to go to his curveball and slider to get opposing batters to swing and miss.

First-year Bloomfield Hills head coach Greg Fettes had plenty of praise for Cooney, who hadn’t gone more than three innings yet up to Wednesday. “Sawyer did outstanding,” he said. “We’re building him up, and he came out, attacked the zone with first-pitch strikes, and that’s what it takes. Obviously, a no-hitter is great. He’s a good player who’s going to play four more years at Xavier, and he did really, really well today.”

Following a 3-0 loss to open the season against Rochester, the Black Hawks (2-3) lost 11-10 and 3-2 to North Farmington.

“Shoot, this is our third one-run game, so we’re getting pretty used to it,” Fettes said. “I’m still trying to figure out the guys with it being my first year here and a new staff, but we’re starting to put it together and really gel.”

The game’s only scoring came in the bottom of the fourth, which was led with a single by Thomas Najor, who advanced on a pair of passed balls that helped put him on third. A diving catch by Tyler Bronczyk in center took away a hit from Black Hawks senior Tyler Marx, but the contact still was enough to allow Najor to slide in safely at home plate.

“I came to the fellas in the fourth inning and said that (the game) was going to be won by a mistake,” Fettes said. “We got walked, and that run scored. That’s baseball, usually free bases turn into runs, and that’s what happened to us today.”

Groves’ pitching wasn’t too shabby, either. Shorter walked just one batter, and his only base knock allowed in his four frames of work was the aforementioned one to Najor. Michael West scattered four hits but worked out of any danger in his two innings of relief.

“We put a charge into the baseball just a couple times but nothing fell for us,” Groves head coach Shawn Morrison. “It’s very unfortunate to get no-hit, but we’ve got to give credit to their guy. He kept us off-balance, pounded the zone. We made adjustments defensively, sniped a couple guys on back-door picks and did all the things to keep us in a 1-0 game. I don’t think we made adjustments based on the counts we found ourselves in. We weren’t keeping level swings, we were late, not getting our foot planted. But our goal was to win the series and we have to take the next two in order to do that.”

The loss dropped the Falcons to 4-2. They began the year with a 16-1 victory over Southfield A&T, then swept a three-game set with Farmington before losing to a ranked Sterling Heights Stevenson team in their last outing on April 4.

“I think we’ve got guys who’ve really taken ownership of the team this year,” Morrison said. “So it’s early, but we have a lot of guys who have their heads where their feet are, and overall that’s going to put us in a pretty good position to battle for a league and district championship at the end.”

Fettes, an all-state catcher at Lamphere before going on to play four years at Kentucky, previously led Bishop Foley to a state title before the family life led him to a recent coaching hiatus. “I had twin girls, kind of took a little time off to figure out how to handle two babies at one time (laughs), and this job opportunity came about,” he said. “I got with (Bloomfield Hills Director of Athletics) Mike Cowdrey, and now I’m here and grateful for the opportunity.”

Weather permitting, the two teams were to continue the series at Groves on Thursday and today.