East Carolina baseball’s Jake Kuchmaner throws the Pirates’ first best game in program history

East Carolina baseball’s Jake Kuchmaner made program history on Sunday. The sophomore lefty threw the Pirates’ first best sport, shutting down 27 instantly Maryland hitters inside the 3-zero victory.

Kuchmaner throwing the best game may not be all that unexpected. That day, he shut down the Ole Miss bats for 8.2 innings until he walked his second-to-final batter on a complete rely-on, allowing the Rebels’ Thomas Dillard to interrupt the bid with a single to the right. The southpaw commenced his run of dominance and offevolved returned, coming within one strike of East Carolina’s first no-hitter in 14 years.

This past Tuesday, Kuchmaner had a one-hit Duke over 5.2 innings. For him, at least, he becomes a bit wild on foot three batters. That’s uncharacteristic for Kuchmaner, who has just walked over his other four appearances this season. Kuchmaner baffled Maryland immediately, wanting less than 10 pitches to get a couple of floor outs and a come-out inside the first inning. He fell in the back of some hitters on the day but confronted the simplest four full counts in his nine innings of labor, wanting 103 pitches to get through the Maryland lineup three times without a base runner.

First baseman Alec Burleson had the large play inside the ninth, saving Kuchmaner’s quest for perfection on an afternoon in which the fielders made everything look smooth. Kuchmaner struck out eight batters in the game, 5 of which had been swinging, consisting of Kody Milton for the last out.