Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Frisco trio simple perfection

Murray, Karsay, Feldman blank Corpus Christi, 3-0
July 29, 2005
A.J. Murray has never pitched a no-hitter. Not in high school or in the minor leagues. The Frisco RoughRiders left-hander has never even seen one.

He got a good look at perfection Thursday night. Murray, Steve Karsay and Scott Feldman combined to throw a perfect game as Frisco defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks, 3-0, in front of 6,569 at Whataburger Field. Murray pitched the first six innings and Karsay followed with two innings of relief before Feldman came in to close it out in the ninth.

"It's very, very, very, very rare that this happens," Murray said. "All I can say is it's unbelievable. It gives me chills to think about what just happened."

It was the first nine-inning perfect game in the Texas League since Dave Wilhelmi of Shreveport tossed one in 1983 and only the third in the league's 117 years. Ed Cole tossed a nine-inning perfect game for Galveston in 1935. Al Shealy of Tulsa was credited with a seven-inning perfect game that same season.

Murray got the baseball used to record the final out and the original copy of the lineup card. Karsay and Feldman got copies of the lineup card and bottles of champagne. All three pitchers signed the three versions of the lineup card.

"We all noticed that he had it going. He was pretty dominating. They didn't even hit a ball hard off him all night," Feldman said. "No one was putting the good part of the bat on the ball. They had a real quiet night at the plate because of the way he set the tone out there."

Third baseman Adam Fox made two outstanding defensive plays, including one on the final out of the game. Fox made a spectacular barehanded play in the seventh inning, when he charged in to pick up a bunt by Mike Rodriguez and nailed Corpus Christi's speedy leadoff man at first.

Wade Robinson hit a smash to third on Feldman's a 3-2 pitch for the last out. Fox knocked the ball down and had enough time to recover and throw to first baseman Jason Hart, touching off a celebration.

Frisco took the lead on back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Jason Hart and Jace Brewer in the fourth. The RoughRiders added another run in the fifth when Fox singled to score Juan Senreiso.

Even though Murray had retired all 18 batters he faced, he didn't try to coax another inning out of RoughRiders manager Darryl Kennedy. Murray had thrown 92 pitches and estimated all but about 10 of them had been fastballs.

"This is probably the best command of my fastball I had ever. I was able to locate my fastball wherever I wanted to tonight," said Murray, whose fastball clocks between 86 and 91 mph. "I don't think I had anything extra. It was all location tonight."

Karsay, who was released by the Yankees in May after being sidelined for most of the past two seasons because of shoulder problems, got four groundball outs and a strikeout before Charlton Jimerson lined out to Brewer at second base to end the eighth.

Feldman came in for the ninth and tried to treat it like just another save situation. There was nothing ordinary about it. He got a strikeout and a groundout before going to 3-and-1 on Robinson. This was not the time for a walk.

"I got a little nervous for that part. I'm happy to just be part of something like this," said Feldman, who pitched a no-hitter for Burlingame High in California. "I don't really remember the last play. I'm just happy he caught it."