AIKEN, S.C.--Junior Pete Pignatiello tied a school record with 16 strikeouts and notched USC Aiken’s first no-hitter in the program’s 15-year history in the NCAA as the ninth-ranked Pacers (27-7) blasted Anderson College (16-24) 11-0 in non-conference baseball action on Tuesday night at Roberto Hernandez Stadium. It is just the 11th no-hitter in the history of the Peach Belt Conference and only the fifth that was a 9.0 inning no-no (PETE PIGNATIELLO PICTURED).

Pignatiello (1-1) struck out 16 batters while walking only one, tying Bryan Ward’s 1993 school record set against Augusta State. Getting solid defense behind him, the Pacers did not commit an error on the night. Pignatiello walked just two batters and hit one more, but with the help of one double play and one runner picked off first, he faced just one batter over the minimum.

With the win, the Pacers extended their home winning streak to 11-straight while picking up their ninth-consecutive non-conference victory.

Scoreless through two and a half, the Pacers erupted for six in the bottom of the third on five hits highlighted by RBI doubles off the bats Robert Davis and Casey Derhak and a two-run blast over the left field wall by freshman Ken Raborn. Davis finished 2-for-5 while Derhak’s two-bagger extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Ian Kowalchuk was a perfect 3-for-3 while Marc Joehnk also tallied three hits.

Leading by the same 6-0 margin entering the home half of the seventh, USC Aiken blew the game open with five runs on two hits and one error to make it an 11-0 margin. Kowalchuk, Montoya Young, and Joehnk all had RBI in the inning.

Pignatiello hit Tony Graham with the first pitch of the game, but a double play erased that base runner. John Mac White drew a leadoff walk in the second, but was picked off to end the inning. From that point forward, Josh Harrison’s full-count walk with two outs in the ninth was the only other base runner allowed by Pignatiello.

Getting stronger as the game went on, Pignatiello struck out 12 of his 16 victims over the final 5.0 innings including striking out the side in the fifth, sixth, and ninth innings.

Nate Miller (1-3) was chased in the fourth inning after surrendering six runs, four earned, on seven hits and one walk in 3.1 innings in the loss for Anderson.

USC Aiken will host North Greenville tomorrow at 6:00 PM at Roberto Hernandez Stadium. Anderson will play at Southern Wesleyan, also tomorrow, at 2:30 PM.

Anderson..............000 000 000 - 0 0 3
#9 USC Aiken.........006 000 50x - 11 11 0

E - Lewis(17); Harrison 2(3). DP - Pacers 1. LOB - Trojans 1; Pacers 6. 2B - Derhak(7); Davis(13). HR - Raborn(4). HBP - Graham; Cooper; Kowalchuk. SH - Young(4). SB - Young(6); Joehnk(11). CS - Young(2).

BOXSCORE