Kwedor is perfect at Mass. Maritime

April 27, 2014

By John R. Johnson, Globe Correspondent

This is how the first perfect game in the 42-year history of the baseball program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy started out for Kevin Kwedor last weekend at Buzzards Bay.

Jared Gersch , leading off for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, laced a liner to center field that was tracked down by Braintree’s Bob Lee. Then junior first baseman Greg Downs snared a liner off the bat of Chase Preite for the third out of the first frame.

“If that first ball got by Lee you’re looking at a triple,” said Mass. Maritime coach Bob Corradi , who has been at the helm of the program for all 42 seasons.

“Without those two defensive plays in the first inning Kevin could have been down one or two runs. And it turns out he throws a perfect game.”

Kwedor, a 6-foot-3 southpaw from Marshfield who spent his freshman season at Southern New Hampshire University, retired all 21 batters he faced and struck out six in an 89-pitch outing as the Buccaneers blanked MCLA 4-0 in the opener of a MASCAC doubleheader last Saturday.

“It’s been pretty weird going around campus and having everyone congratulate me this week,” said Kwedor, who, in his fourth collegiate start, tossed the 25th perfect game at the Division 3 level. “Going into the later innings I was aware of it, but was trying my hardest not to think about having a perfect game. I was just taking it out by out. I had never been in that situation before and didn’t want to let it slip out of my hands.”

Kwedor, who went to 3-2 on three batters, fanned the final batter of the game to halt the Academy’s three-game slide. He induced seven groundouts and eight flyouts to improve to 2-2 this season.

“Kevin was able to mix up his fastball and his off-speed pitches very well from the beginning of the game, and he had great confidence in his curveball to throw in any situation,” said Corradi. “His arm had been sore early in the season and he’s just now starting to reach the level he should have been at early in the season. His curveball was excellent.”

In the fourth inning, he battled back to strike out Preite after falling behind 3-0 on the count.

“I was mostly relying on my two-seam fastball and my curveball to keep them off balance,” said Kwedor, who plans to enlist in the Army upon his graduation in two years. “It’s definitely something I’ll always remember. I think I had a two-hitter in high school, but it wasn’t even close to being a no-hitter.”

The perfect game was the sixth no-hitter in program history and second in two years; junior T.J. Notarangelo (Foxborough) hurled one last April.

After a dominating senior year at Marshfield High (7-0, 0.33 earned run average), Kwedor enrolled at Southern New Hampshire. He saw action in only one game for the Penmen and transferred to Mass. Maritime.

In seven appearances, covering 27 innings, he compiled a 3.00 ERA, with 22 strikeouts and eight walks.