Patriots Held at No Hits for Second Time in Franchise History

On a cold, cloudy night in the shadow of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, five Camden Rivershark pitchers combined for the sixth no-hitter in Atlantic League history, blanking the Somerset Patriots 10-0 in the second game of a Friday doubleheader at Campbell’s Field. The Riversharks won the opener 5-2.

Starter Santos Hernandez and relievers Mike McGuire, Joe D’Allessandro, Chris Rollins and Kalen Gearhart did not allow a hit in a seven-inning contest in front of 4,919 fans. Hernandez, making his first Camden start, put the only two baserunners of the game on by hitting Patriot Elliott Ayala to start the game and walking Joe Burke with one out in the second. After striking out two to finish the frame, McGuire (1-0) entered in the third and struck out three in two innings while D’Allessandro, Rollins and Gearhart all tossed perfect frames in a stretch where the final 17 Patriots were retired.

Josh Pressley—who had broken up a no-hitter in the seventh from Bridgeport’s Matt Pike on June 23—made the final out against Gearhart, grounding out to shortstop Jake Eigsti to close out the first ever no-hitter in Camden franchise history.

The Patriots were held hitless for the second time in franchise history, the other coming in a nine-inning contest on Aug. 17, 2004 when Joe Gannon went the distance for the Newark Bears to blank Somerset.

The no-hitter was the second of the seven-inning variety in the 14-year history of the Atlantic League and the second ever combined effort with the other being the last no-hitter thrown in the circuit, coming in 2010 with Southern Maryland holding Newark hitless.

All five pitchers in the no-hitter were facing Somerset for the first time this year.

Overlooked in the effort was the Camden offense which put up 18 hits on the Somerset staff, 12 of which came against starter Luke Sommer. In just his sixth career start—all of which have come this season—Sommer (4-5) went just 3 1/3 innings, yielding eight runs, seven earned. Sommer had allowed just two earned runs in his previous 23 innings.

The lone bright spot of the nightcap was Matt Hagen, who made an appearance as a pitcher for the first time in his 10-year professional career. Hagen, despite allowing a hit and hitting a batter, impressively struck out the side.

The opener of the doubleheader featured a solid Camden pitching performance as well, as Eddy Camacho tossed the first complete game of his career—coming in just his 21st professional start—yielding only two runs. Camacho (7-7) was 1-6 in his previous seven starts. Meanwhile, the Patriots' Jim Magrane suffered the loss in a six-inning complete game, taking a loss from Camden for the first time since Sept. 1, 2008. Magrane (2-3) allowed nine hits and five runs, four earned. A four-run fifth for the Riversharks gave the team a 5-2 lead, one it would not relinquish.

Somerset (22-36, 48-73) and Camden (33-26, 56-66) square off on Saturday with Chris Oxpring (4-9, 4.29) taking the bump for the Patriots against Sean Jarrett (1-1, 4.05). Coverage begins at 5:30 pm on 1450 WCTC-AM and wctcam.com.

NOTES: Patriots' Jeff Nettles recorded a hit in game one, pushing his career Atlantic League total up to 927, just six shy of tying the all-time record.