Will Roberts was perfect last night.
The junior pitcher retired each of the 27 George Washington batters he faced to clinch the Virginia baseball program's 2,000th win with the program's first-ever perfect game - a 2-0 win against the Colonials.
"What an amazing accomplishment," coach Brian O'Connor said. "In my college coaching and playing career, I never witnessed a perfect game. I'm so happy for him. That's something he and the team will remember for the rest of their lives."
O'Connor has been coaching for nearly two decades, but it is not surprising that he never has seen perfection before - Roberts' perfect game was just the 19th in NCAA Division I history.
"It was awesome, it's something special," senior catcher Kenny Swab said. "A perfect game. I've probably only seen two in my life - [Chicago White Sox starter Mark] Buehrle on TV and Will Roberts."
Roberts said he was "awful in the bullpen" before the game, but he showed no signs of difficulty last night as he never allowed a batter from George Washington (7-18) to reach base. Virginia (25-2), ranked No. 1 in multiple national polls, had less trouble getting men on base but still struggled to push players across the plate. The team squandered a bases-loaded chance in the third inning before breaking through with two runs in the fourth. The Cavaliers stranded nine runners throughout the game, but those missed chances may have given Roberts the chance to be perfect.
"We couldn't quite get that hit to break it open ... we didn't situationally hit well," O'Connor said. "Maybe that helped [Roberts]. It kept him in a groove the entire game." In the midst of his groove, Roberts struck out the side in the sixth inning and then fanned the first batter of the seventh. Junior second baseman Keith Werman then reached near the second base bag and gunned an off-balance throw to barely beat the runner for the second out. During the eighth, Werman again preserved Roberts' hitless night by charging in on a chopping ground ball to get the runner with a side-armed throw.
Roberts "made some clutch pitches, but we made some great plays behind him," O'Connor said. "Tonight, Werman came in on a couple of balls and made some slow roller plays that are really difficult plays for a lot of other second basemen, but he made it look easy."
The next Colonial batter scorched the ball up the middle, but Roberts knocked it down with his leg, and then fielded it cleanly for the out at first.
"That's probably the luckiest play I've ever made in my life," Roberts said. "I had no idea what was going on, I just felt it sting my leg. I feel like every [perfect] game is going to have one of those [lucky plays], and that was it for me."
Fans gave Roberts a standing ovation as he took the mound in the ninth, and the righty immediately responded with an 0-2 count against junior third baseman Brett Bowers. He nearly lost the perfect game, however, as his next pitch just missed grazing the batter.
"When it came close to hitting him, I was thinking, 'Just don't hit him, just don't him, don't let it end that way,'" Swab said.
Roberts finished off Bowers with a called third strike, though, and then fanned the next batter swinging to notch his 10th strikeout - which equalled a career-best - and 26th straight out. Fittingly, the 27th out came to Werman, and just as the second baseman had done all night, he preserved Robert's gem.
"I wanted that opportunity to make the final out, and it came to me," Werman said. "I saw the ball 15 feet in front of me and knew I was going to get a tough hop, but it stuck in my glove, and that feeling after that moment - everything is weightless - it's just incredible."
After cementing that final out, the Cavaliers exploded out of the dugout and hoisted Roberts above their heads. As they held the pitcher in the air, the scoreboard behind him showed nothing but zeroes - zero runs, zero hits, zero errors; a perfect game.
"The fact that they lifted the kid up on our field with our fans made me smile, and it still brings a smile to my face," O'Connor said. "I know how hard the kid's worked and how much he's wanted it, and now this year it's finally come into fruition"
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