Baseball | March 01, 2019

Box Score DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Anthony Maldonado registered 10 strikeouts and took a no-hitter almost through seven innings to bolster Bethune-Cookman to a 4-3 win against Ohio State at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. By tying his career-high in strikeouts, Maldonado (1-0) evened BCU's record to 4-4 while Ohio State dropped to 5-4.
 
The Wildcats wasted little time to gain the lead when Zach Spivey smacked a two-out RBI single to third in the second inning. He plated Over Torres who walked and Joe Fernando who singled.
 
Meanwhile, Maldonado was in a groove. After a first inning walk, he set down 12 consecutive Buckeyes until a walk in the fifth.
 
In the home half of the frame, Nate Sterijevski singled, his second hit of his 2019 debut, and stole second. After a Danny Rodriguez strikeout, Seth Lonsway was pulled in favor of Will Pfennig. However, the same recipe worked on the new hurler. Brandon Wilkes singled to score Sterijevski. Then, Wilkes stole second and crossed home on one of

Fernando's three hits. In all, BCU finished with a season-best seven swipes.
 
Maldonado showed no signs of let-up with the 4-0 lead as he set down toe first two Buckeyes in the seventh. However, Brady Cherry spoiled a two-strike offering for a single to shallow right-center that ended the no-hitter bid. Two singles later, OSU had its first run.
 
The righty finished with seven innings of action, three hits, one run, two walks, and 10 strikeouts.
 
Brandon Wilkes grabbed his second save of the season by recording the final out on a Nate Romans pop-up to second. Jordan Pinto surrendered a couple of ninth innings runs in relief of Maldonado.
 
The Wildcats and Buckeyes meet Saturday at 6 p.m. for the second of the four-game series.