The West Virginia Power came one out away from their second no hitter in franchise history, when Zack Von Rosenberg and Zac Fuesser took a no hitter in to the ninth inning against the Delmarva Shorebirds. Von Rosenberg led the outing with his best start of the year, throwing six perfect innings with six strikeouts. It was the fifth time this year that Von Rosenberg has gone five or more shutout innings, with three of those outings coming since July 20th. It was only the second start of the year where Von Rosenberg has gone five or more innings with fewer than three hits.
Zac Fuesser came on in the seventh inning and got a ground out to third base to start the inning. He gave up a walk to the second batter he faced, breaking up the perfect game. Fuesser got out of the inning with two more ground outs. He came back with a one, two, three inning in the eighth, finishing off Delmarva with two straight strikeouts.
Fuesser got a ground out to start the ninth, got a hard line out to Eric Avila for out number two. With one out to go, he went 2-2, then gave up a line drive single to break up the no-hitter. Fuesser lost the shutout on a two run home run to the next batter. He followed that up with a walk, and a single to right field, before getting a fly out to end the game, giving West Virginia a 6-2 victory.
The no-hitter would have been the second one in West Virginia Power franchise history, with the only no-hitter coming in 2009. That was a combined effort with Hunter Strickland going six innings, and Diego Moreno finishing off the final three on July 28th, 2009. West Virginia came close on two occasions last year, when Nathan Baker took a no-hitter in to the ninth on July 6th, and Phillip Irwin took a no-hitter in to the eighth on July 26th. Tonight’s attempt was closer than the two games last year.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
I wonder what MPH FB ZVR had going for him.