In front of a sold-out crowd at Northwest Federal Field, LHP Matthew Crownover (W, 5-8) tossed the first no-hitter in the history of the Potomac Nationals (68-58, 31-28). In a 7-0 shutout victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats (65-62, 35-29), Crownover allowed just four men to reach base, as he walked three and hit a batter. Crownover pitched nine innings for the first time in his professional career and threw a career-high 110 pitches.
The game got off to a bizarre start, as with men on the corners and two outs in the home half of the first inning, RHP Zach Plesac (L, 8-5) threw a pitch to 2B Andruw Monasterio, which went off the glove of C Gavin Collins. The passed ball scored DH Bryan Mejia from third base, and advanced SS Luis Garcia to second base. Collins, who haphazardly went after the ball at the backstop, saw Garcia break for third base, but didn’t make a throw. The Lynchburg catcher then appeared to toss the ball to the home plate umpire, assuming that the play was dead, but it rolled back onto the warning track, which plated Garcia, and was ruled an error on Collins. Potomac led 2-0 after one inning.
Crownover had just two scares in the ballgame, and both came in the first third of the game. CF Nick Banks made a lunging grab on a ball hit by 1B Anthony Miller in the second inning, while RF Rhett Wiseman made a diving grab on a line drive hit by CF Austen Wade to lead off the third inning. Crownover worked six perfect frames in the game and faced more than four batters in an inning just once, his final frame.
Potomac added a run in the third inning on consecutive singles from Mejia and Garcia, and then put four on the board against the Lynchburg bullpen over the seventh and eighth frames. LF Telmito Agustin made it 4-0 with a two-out RBI double off of RHP Leandro Linares in the seventh inning, while an RBI double from Wiseman off of RHP Micah Minard in the eighth inning made it 5-0. Banks capped off the scoring with a two-run single one batter later. Potomac led 7-0 after eight innings.
The Potomac left-handed starter entered the ninth inning on a stretch of 10 consecutive batters retired. Crownover got SS Tyler Friis to fly out to right field to begin the frame, before 2B Dillon Persinger drew a walk. RF Trenton Brooks struck out swinging, while DH Nolan Jones took a borderline 3-2 pitch for Crownover’s second walk of the inning. On a 1-0 pitch with two outs, Collins popped one up behind second base, where Monasterio made the catch that secured the no-hitter.
The no-hitter was the first for the franchise since it became Potomac in 2005. It was the first no-hitter in general for the franchise since LHP Rich Pratt tossed seven no-hit innings in a win for the Prince William Cannons on 5/19/95. It was the first nine-inning no-hitter in franchise history since RHP Brian Woods and RHP Archie Vazquez combined for a no-hitter over Salem on 4/8/95. Saturday night was the first single pitcher no-hitter for the franchise since RHP Fernando Gonzalez no-hit Winston-Salem on 8/13/82.
With a chance at the sweep, RHP Jackson Tetreault (0-1, 6.97) will look to follow up his teammates no-hit bid. The right-handed starter allowed six runs over 5.1 innings in a loss to Lynchburg on Tuesday night. For the Hillcats, RHP Justin Garza (4-6, 3.64) will aim to salvage the series. Garza hasn’t pitch for the Hillcats since July 10th, and his past two outings have been for Class-A Mahoning Valley.
First pitch at Northwest Federal Field on Sunday is set for 1:00pm. The Potomac broadcast will get underway at 12:45pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show. You can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com, at http://bit.ly/P-NatsBroadcast, or on the TuneIn Radio App.
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Chris Graham
