Duke’s Bryce Jarvis Makes NCAA Pitching History

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Well this is pretty damn cool.

Duke has a long and very distinguished athletic history. Football has been to the Rose Bowl. Hosted it even. Basketball has been a national power for 60 years and has five national championships. Golf, tennis, lacrosse and soccer all have had significant success.

Yet as much glory as Duke athletics has acquired, no one ever did what Bryce Jarvis did Friday: he pitched a perfect game for the Blue Devils, only the 18th in NCAA history.

That’s a spectacular accomplishment and oddly, it came on a very cold day with snow on the ground. Jarvis finished Cornell off in 97 pitches.

After the game he said this:

“I wouldn’t even say [this is always] in the back of my mind. Tonight, in the bullpen before the game, I felt all my stuff working, and I turned to [pitching coach Dusty] Blake, and I said, ‘I feel like it’s going to be a good day’… I wouldn’t say I was nervous about the run support, [and] I wasn’t going to let [head coach Chris Pollard pull me because of pitch count]. I’ve gone deep into pitch counts before. I pride myself on my ability to stay recovered, and stay at a level that I need to be to go back out there. I was going to go until I couldn’t anymore.”