Jake Miller had appeared in three games for the Toreros in 2020, all as a reliever. When Friday night's scheduled starter against Monmouth got sick it was Miller who made the emergency start.
102 pitches later he was in the history books.
Miller threw a no-hitter, the first of his career, in a 7-0 USD win. It's the first no-no for the Toreros since 2008 when Josh Romanski did it against Harvard.
A year ago Miller, a graduate of Newbury Park High School, did a little bit of everything for USD. He made 17 appearances with seven starts and served as the occasional closer. To complete the no-hitter he got a few fantastic defensive plays from his defense.
3rd baseman Adam Lopez made a fantastic backhand stop to end the 3rd inning and in the 8th inning the USD outfield made a pair of tremendous grabs. Left fielder Tora Otsuka (the son of former Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka) made a diving grab coming in on a sinking liner, then centerfielder Camden Vasquez got a great jump on a liner to the gap in right-center and went Superman for a fully extended catch.
The final out was much simpler, a soft grounder to 2nd base that touched off a dog pile by the mound on Miller. The Toreros are now 7-2 to start the year and have two more with Monmouth at Fowler Park over the weekend. Saturday's game starts at 4:00 pm and Sunday they get underway at 1:00.
