College baseball: Vanderbilt's Jack Leiter throws historic no-hitter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jack Leiter pitched what is to believed to be the first Vanderbilt regular-season no-hitter in Vanderbilt history since 1971 on Saturday in a 5-0 win over South Carolina at Hawkins Field.

After walking the game’s first hitter, Leiter (5-0) was perfect in shutting down 27 straight South Carolina hitters. He struck out 16, a career-high.

COLLEGE BASEBALL: All-SEC top 5 holds steady in latest poll

Leiter’s teammate, Kumar Rocker, threw a no-hitter in the 2019 Super Regionals against Duke.

Over nine innings Leiter threw 124 pitches, 81 for strikes. He induced eight flyouts, three groundouts and the fanned the rest.

Relive the final moments of @jackleiter22's no-hitter. #VandyBoys pic.twitter.com/ZeZpZROQke

— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) March 20, 2021

Tate Kolwyck crushed a two-run home run in the second to put the Commodores up 2-0. That would prove to be all the runs Leiter needed.

The Vandy bats were relatively quiet until the eighth when Kolwyck struck again. He launched another two-run shot, this one following a CJ Rodriguez double.

Enrique Bradfield added an RBI sacrifice fly late in the inning pushing the score to 5-0. Vanderbilt improved to 15-2 and 2-0 with the win.

South Carolina starter Brannon Jordan (1-2) went five innings and struck out nine. He allowed two earned runs, walked three, gave up three hits and threw 98 pitches.

The Gamecocks (11-6, 0-2 SEC), losers of six in a row, were no-hit for the first time since 1990.