The Wright State baseball team traveled across town to take on the University of Dayton Flyers for a perfect game on a perfect afternoon.
The Raiders edged out UD in a 1-0 contest, as senior pitcher Jesse Scholtens retired all 27 batters he faced. Striking out 12 Flyers as he pitched his way to a perfect game and improved his record to 2-0.
“You can be a part of this game as a fan, player, coach and never get to see something like that,” Wright State head coach Greg Lovelady said. “I’m still kind of in shock, but I’m also trying to soak it all in, because I know it will probably never happen again.”
“There’s no better person it could have happened to,” Lovelady said. “Jesse is an unbelievable worker, unbelievable kid, and even more importantly he’s an unbelievable teammate.”
“Nobody roots harder for the guys, nobody cares about his teammates more,” Lovelady said.
“It’s the perfect day, because it happened to the perfect person and obviously throwing a perfect game,” Lovelady said. “To not even go to three balls one time in the entire game and obviously do what he did, it was one of the most dominate performances I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Lovelady shared stories of his own playing days at the University of Miami and talked of how he was almost on both sides of a no-hitter, but they were eventually broken up.
“I’ve been close a couple times, but I’ve never been a part of a no-hitter or a perfect game,” Lovelady said. ‘I don’t know if it will ever happen again, I’m trying to soak it all in."
Freshman JD Orr beat out the throw on an infield single in the top of the first for WSU, for one of the only two hits on the afternoon.
Senior Ryan Fucci grounded out to the short-stop scoring Orr, who had reached base on a walk to give the Raiders their only run of the game, but it was the only one they would need.
Wright State (8-6) will be back in action tomorrow as Eastern Michigan (4-9) come to town for a double-header. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
