History was made tonight at Whittaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington, KY. Domenic Mazza, a pitcher for the Augusta GreenJackets in the San Francisco Giants organization, threw a complete perfect game against the Lexington Legends, winning the game 9-0. Mazza started the season with a slow roll, going 0-2 and compiling a 6.17 ERA over three starts for the Jackets before throwing 103 pitches for the game. While he only saw two innings of work for the Giants in Spring Training, he only gave up one run and one walk while striking out four batters. In 2016, he had an 8-3 record with a 3.93 era in 14 starts for Augusta.
Domenic Mazza Makes History with Perfect Game
Two records were set tonight; this is the first perfect nine-inning game for both the GreenJackets and the South Atlantic League. The current South Atlantic League, established in 1980, started on the heels of the last league’s demise in 1963 as the Western Carolinas League. Augusta first fielded a minor league team in 1980 (as a co-op team), and the GreenJackets joined the league in 1988. They have been previously associated with the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and the Pittsburgh Pirates before joining up for a long-term partnership with the San Francisco Giants in 2005.
Mazza is just 22 years old. The lefty was drafted by the Giants in the 22nd round of the 2015 MLB Draft, out of UC Santa Barbara. He cleared out the Legends with just 85 pitches.
The GreenJackets opened up the scoring on a hard hit line drive double to center field in the top of the first, off the bat of Jacob Heyward, scoring both Frandy De La Rosa and Ashford Fulmer. Manuel Geraldo and Brandon Van Horn hit soft singles to Legends left fielder Kort Peterson, making the score 4-0 at the end of the first. Will Albertson slammed one over the center field wall in the top of the 4th, scoring himself and Van Horn, who had walked in his at-bat, making it 6-0 Augusta. Kelvin Beltre hit a solo homer in the top of the 8th, and Fulmer tripled in the top of the 9th. With the offensive downpour and some excellent defensive stops, the Jackets helped secure a perfecto for Mazza on the way to a 9-0 victory.
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