College Baseball: Loyola Marymount Pitcher Throws Perfect Game Against BYU

Loyola Marymount pitcher, Cory Abbott, threw the first perfect game in school history on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount is a small school in Los Angeles, California. They have fewer than 10,000 students, and their baseball team is not a powerhouse. As of March 23, Loyola Marymount only had an RPI of 96, the fourth best mark of the West Coast Conference.

Although, on Saturday afternoon, Loyola Marymount junior pitcher, Cory Abbott, put them on the map when he threw the first perfect game in school history against BYU.

It only took an hour and 53 minutes for Loyola Marymount to win the rubber match, 2-0. It helped them improve to 13-10 on the year. The perfect game coming against a conference opponent makes it even better, too. It helped Loyola Marymount stay third in the West Coast Conference at 4-2, while dropping BYU to 1-2 in conference play.

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Abbott, who is now 4-1 on the year with a 2.66 ERA, threw 106 pitches, 79 strikes, and struck out 13 batters on the afternoon, including the final batter of the game. He also forced 10 more batters to ground out.

It’s also worth noting that BYU isn’t a terrible offensive team, as they have five players hitting above .300 this season. Therefore, even though they’re 10-11 this year, they have good hitters on their team. The Cougars scored five runs in each of the first two games of the series, and have scored more than 10 runs six times this season.

BYU starter, Hayden Rogers, threw a great game as well. He only allowed two runs on seven hits over eight innings. His ERA dropped to 2.45 this season, but he’s just 1-1 after suffering an unfortunate loss.

Here’s a look at the final out with Loyola Marymount’s commentary, and the game’s official box score.

This perfect game highlights what has been a stellar junior season for Abbott. He currently leads Loyola Marymount in wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, and has the third best ERA on the team. He has thrown 47.1 innings over seven starts and has struck out 48 batters compared to just 13 walks.

He’s been a nice surprise for Loyola Marymount after an up-and-down sophomore season in 2016. Last year, Abbott only made 12 starts, going 5-5, and had a mediocre 4.24 ERA.

Loyola Marymount’s next game is on the road against UC Irvine this Tuesday.

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Perfect games are rare on any level, so Abbott and Loyola Marymount should celebrate this for as long as they can. It’s a once in a lifetime moment.