NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Vanderbilt’s right-hand man, Jack Leiter, ESPN’s No. 2 in the MLB draft, played a no-hitter on Saturday in the Commodores’ 5-0 victory over South Carolina.
Leiter hit the first entry before registering 27 consecutive eliminations. He finished with a record of 16 career eliminations, while the No. 2 Commodores improved to 15-2, 2-0 in the SEC.
Leiter was efficient, scoring 81 hits in 124 shots, inducing eight fly outs and three groundouts, improving to 5-0.
“Hanging out with the first guy, obviously, is not something you want to do,” said Leiter in his post-game interview on the SEC Network. “But I would say that not until the fifth, sixth, seventh inning is when it started to look different from other games.”
The son of former MLB pitcher Al Leiter, Jack works mainly in the 90s with his fastball, using a knockout plus a curved ball as his best secondary shot, characteristics that attract many scouts to his games.
And it all worked out on Saturday against the Gamecocks (11-6, 0-2), who lost their sixth consecutive game and have not been hit for the first time since 1990.
“Nobody said anything, it was an unspoken thing, I just did the same thing I did for any entry,” said Leiter of his routine between entries. “I would just sit in silence and organize my thoughts.
“I really try to always say, ‘next shot, next shot, next shot’, and I just stay in the moment.”
Tate Kolwyck made two home runs for Vanderbilt in his third consecutive victory.
Leiter is one of two Vanderbilt pitchers on the MLB team’s radar. Kumar Rocker, also a right-hand man, is number 3 in ESPN’s latest MLB draft ranking.
Saturday’s win was Vanderbilt’s first regular-season no-hitter since 1971. Rocker launched a no-hitter at the 2019 NCAA Super Regionals Vs. Duke.