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Seton Hall Athletics[/caption]
Sophomore Shane McCarthy became the first pitcher in Seton Hall history to put up a perfect game Friday night, leading the Pirates at home to a 10-0 victory over LIU Brooklyn.
Not one walk. Not one hit. Not one runner reached base. It was all done in just 88 pitches with an added eight strikeouts in front of the enthusiastic home crowd.
It was simply McCarthy’s night.
“Today is just one of those days where you feel really good,” McCarthy said after the outing, clutching the game ball. “(My) stuff (was) working, and we used it one through nine innings today.”
One-two-three inning after one-two-three inning, McCarthy was locked in. He often got out of innings in under 10 pitches, and his team backed up his solid play by raking in 10 runs on 10 hits.
A perfect 10 kind of night.
The bulk of the scoring came in the fourth inning for the Pirates where four hits and one error brought six runs home. The offensive onslaught continued into the fifth and sixth innings, where Seton Hall scored two runs in each.
As the offense was clicking, McCarthy was still gaining momentum in his performance. When one would think his arm might start to tire, McCarthy put an exclamation on the sixth inning by striking out the side.
It was in the seventh inning when the possible perfect game feat sunk in for McCarthy.
“Once the seventh inning came around, you start thinking about it a little more because you’re down to the home stretch,” McCarthy said. “That’s when I really started thinking about it.”
The win brings McCarthy to a 4-3 record on the season. McCarthy also widened his lead in strikeouts on the team, giving him 57 on the season, 19 more strikeouts than the next closest pitcher in Cullen Dana.
As the season progresses, McCarthy’s history-making performance is right on par with his goal: to make a difference for his team to win.
“The team as a whole, all we’re trying to do is win ball games,” McCarthy said. “Personally, I just want to go out there and compete for my team as best as I can every Friday.”
Seton Hall looks to take the series against LIU Brooklyn when the Pirates face the Blackbirds again at 1 p.m. on Sat., April 15 at Owen T. Carroll field.
Elizabeth Swinton can be reached at elizabeth.swinton@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @eswint22.
https://twitter.com/SHUBaseball/status/721133811019476992
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