Pastime Baseball League
May Review
Nothing To Shout About
Rudolph throws first no-hitter in PBL history
One of the great mysteries of the Pastime Baseball League's first four seasons is that with all these great pitchers, and great performances, nobody had thrown a no-hitter.
That changed with San Antonio's Dick Rudolph, who held Oklahoma City hitless, and missed a perfect game only by virtue of hitting Josh Willingham with one out in the fourth. Rudolph walked no one, and struck out only one in the swift 88-pitch effort.
The Scorpions had 17 fly ball outs, 9 ground outs and the strikeout, as the punchless crew offered little resistance to Rudolph's off-speed - and some say spitball-laden arsenal.
"Everything danced," said Richie Scheinblum, the Scorpions' leading hitter at .299. "He knew where it was going, but we had no clue."
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Rudolph said afterward. "I didn't feel anything different. Things just went my way."
The winningest pitcher from the 2009 Amateur Draft, Rudolph improved to 5-2 on the year and 50-43 for his career.