Salisbury's JD Polcari, pitching for the Nationals in the Clark-Griffith League, tossed a no-hitter against the McLean Raiders and came within two batters of a perfect game.

Polcari led the Nationals to a 6-1 victory over the Raiders in a seven inning contest. The lone run allowed by Polcari was unearned, after a Polcari throwing error allowed Raiders left fielder Davis Hewitt to reach third. Hewitt then came around to score on an RBI groundout.

"I was just trying to pitch like any other game," said Polcari. "I was trying to throw six solid innings, and keep my team in the game. But after two or three innings, [the innings] just started to roll along, and by the 5th or 6th inning, I knew I was going to complete the no-hitter or maybe a perfect game."

Hewitt's walk in the 6th inning broke up the perfect game, after Polcari had retired the first 15 batters. Polcari then made a throwing error on a potential double play ball, which allowed Hewitt to score. If Polcari hadn't made the error, he would have faced the minimum number of batters. Polcari came back out in the 7th and retired the side in order with three groundouts.

Polcari used pinpoint command of his fastball and curveball to keep the Raiders offense baffled the entire game.

"He hit his spots over and over again," said Nationals manager Billy Emerson. "He got ahead in counts with all of his pitchers, and kept a good-hitting team off-balance."

Emerson, who coached Polcari in high school, has now coached Polcari for two years on the Nationals. He said that Polcari is, "the type of guy who can dominate when he's on. I've seen these types of outings from him before. After he went through the order one time, I knew he hit a good shot at a perfect game."

Emerson said that Polcari's performance was probably the best that he has seen in his 5 years in the league.

"I've seen guys with more velocity, but I have not seen a pitcher do exactly what he wanted to every hitter, except the one he walked, for 7 innings at this level," said Emerson.