CLEARWATER, Fla.— A Florida high school pitcher came up short in his bid to throw a fifth straight no-hit game.

Mitchell High School ace Patrick Schuster had put together a string of four no-hitters going into Tuesday's district tournament game, and had gotten through the first two innings before allowing a double to Gaither High's Drew Doty at a high school field in Clearwater.

Schuster captured the state of Florida record when he turned in his fourth straight no-hitter last week at his home field in New Port Richey, northwest of Tampa. The national record for consecutive no-hitters by a high school pitcher is six.

The lanky left-hander escaped the first inning after walking two, hitting a batter and allowing an unearned run after his defense committed two errors behind him. Schuster set Gaither High down in order in the second inning before hitting the leadoff batter in the third. Doty followed with a double over the right-fielder's head on an 0-1 count.

The last time Schuster surrendered a hit was March 24.

He barely reacted after giving up the hit, walking around the mound once before getting back on the rubber as a standing-room only crowd of more than 1,000 applauded.

In his next turn at bat, Schuster hit an RBI single to give his team a 3-2 lead.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pound pitcher is ranked as the 79th best prospect — the 42nd best high school prospect — in the country by Baseball America. The 18-year-old Schuster, who has signed with the University of Florida, has a fastball around 90 mph and some nasty breaking stuff delivered with the same slingshot motion. Experts say he'll likely be a second-round pick in the June amateur draft, with the string of no-hitters improving his status only slightly.

Schuster says he's excited to go to Florida, but won't rule jumping right to pro ball if he's chosen highly enough in the draft.

Going into Tuesday's district tournament game, Schuster had given up just nine hits in 55 innings this season, and was 8-0 with 110 strikeouts while helping his team to a 23-3 mark. He had 60 strikeouts in the four-game no-hit streak, which began April 3.

Schuster would have become the fourth high school pitcher to throw five consecutive no-hitters. Two players have thrown six in a row. Chris Taranto of Notre Dame High School in Biloxi, Miss., did it in 1961, while Tom Engle did it in 1989 in Lancaster, Ohio.

Both were drafted by major league teams, Taranto by the Houston Colt '45s, Engle by the New York Mets. Arm problems ended both their careers before either could make it to the majors.