Leiter walked a batter in the first inning before recording 27 successive workouts.
Leiter was effective, posting 81 strikes in 124 pitches, inducing eight fly outs and three groundouts, improving to 5-0.
“Walking the first man, of course, is not something you want to do,” Leiter said in his postgame interview on SEC Network. “But I would say, not until the fifth, sixth, seventh inning, is if it started to feel different from other games”
The son of former MLB pitcher Al Leiter, Jack functions mostly from the low-90s on his fastball, employing a knockout plus curveball as his best secondary pitch, traits which attract several scouts to his matches.
Plus it was all working Saturday against the Gamecocks (11-6, 0-2), who dropped their sixth consecutive game, and were no-hit for first time since 1990.
“No one said anything, it had been kind of an unspoken thing, I just did the same thing I did at any inning,” Leiter said of his regular in between innings. “I’d just sit down quietly, and gather my thoughts.
“I truly do try to always say,’next pitch, next pitch, next pitch,’ and only kinda stay in the moment.”
Tate Kolwyck hit a pair of two-run home runs for Vanderbilt in its third successive victory.
Leiter is one of two Vanderbilt pitchers that are high on MLB teams’ radar. Kumar Rockeralong with a right-hander, is No. 3 in ESPN’s latest MLB draft positions.
Saturday’s win was Vanderbilt’s first regular-season no-hitter since 1971. Rocker pitched a no-hitter in the 2019 NCAA Super Regionals vs. Duke.
