Duhawk's Paluch no-hits Rams
| Kendall Paluch's no-hitter for Loras took only 88
minutes from start to finish. Loras sports information |
Loras started its weekend series sweep of the Cornell Rams with
a one-hitter by Kevin Moriarty but Kendall Paluch did one better.
In the Saturday's opener, but it was Kendall Paluch's day to shine
as the Duhawk threw the first no-hitter in program history since
1994.
The game took just 88 minutes to complete as Paluch struck out six
Rams and erased a scary first inning to cruise to the memorable
win. After a 1-2-3 top of the first inning for the Duhawks offense,
a leadoff error by their defense immediately put Paluch under
pressure. Paluch committed an error of his own as Cornell tried to
bunt over leadoff man Matt Pfister. After strikeouts to the three
and four hitters, Paluch added his only walk of the day to the
already stressful inning to load the bases. He escaped with a pop
out to third base to end the inning.
It would turn out to be the only inning in which a Ram would reach
base. Paluch followed with 18 straight outs after the pop-out to
end the first inning to record the no-hitter. Over the final six
innings, the outing included four more strikeouts, eight fly outs,
and six ground outs.
"I give a lot of credit to the guys behind me for stepping up and
playing outstanding defense," Paluch said after the series was
over.
"I struck out six and had two come-backers, so the other 13 outs
were all thanks to the defense." Paluch added. "I also think Kevin
(Moriarty) deserves recognition for his one-hitter performance the
previous day. To start off the series like that really set the
tone."
Loras pushed across single runs in the third and fifth innings.
More freshman did the damage for the Duhawks there. Eric DeSousa
walked and eventually scored on a throwing error by the Rams
infield. Mike Pudlo reached on a fielder's choice and was later
driven home by an Austin Brown single to left field.
"Kendall got ahead all day and executed pitches with a purpose,"
pitching coach Dan Wellik said after the series. "Our whole staff
has done a great job, especially this weekend, and they should all
be commended for giving us an opportunity to win every game."
On Friday, Kevin Moriarty allowed only a leadoff single in the top
of the fourth inning to the leadoff man Muir after working through
the order without a hiccup in the first three innings. In total,
Moriarty registered a season high eight strikeouts, no walks, and
faced just 23 batters in the seven inning game. The win moved
Moriarty to 2-2 on the year.
Loras completed the sweep with a 6-3 win in the backend of
Saturday's twinbill.
