Ramsey is perfect against Northwestern
Terps junior pitcher strikes out 10 in historic start versus Wildcats
While 42-year-old Boston Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill retired the first 12 Orioles on Friday night in four perfect innings in Baltimore, another pitcher in Maryland took it a step further. A lot further.
Terps junior left-hander Ryan Ramsey threw a perfect game in a 13-0 victory over Northwestern in College Park, the first for a Maryland pitcher in more than 60 years and only the 34th in NCAA Division I history. Fittingly, Terps pitcher Dick Reitz was the first to do it on April 10, 1959, against Johns Hopkins. Ramsey’s is only the 20th nine-inning individual perfect game in Division I history and the first since Duke’s Bryce Jarvis threw one against Cornell on Feb. 21, 2020.
There have only been 23 perfect games in Major League Baseball history.
“I definitely could sense it all around me” heading to the mound to start the ninth inning, Ramsey told The Diamondback, Maryland’s student newspaper, after the game. “Honestly, the first part of the season I haven’t been able to command a lot of offspeed pitches, have everything together and feel the way I did tonight. Tonight was one of those nights where I was able to lock-in.”
Ramsey was lights out Friday night, allowing no hits and no walks while striking out 10 on 118 pitches. After getting the final batter to ground out to third, his teammates flooded from the dugout and mobbed the New Jersey native on the mound.
“Overwhelming,” Ramsey said of the celebration. “My shoe came off.”
According to The Diamondback, the 6-foot, 195-pound left-hander replaced Nick Dean as the usual Friday starting pitcher. He matched up against Northwestern’s Sean Sullivan, who was pummeled as the Terps took a 9-0 lead into the fourth inning.
Ramsey was a second-team All-Big Ten Conference selection in 2021, appearing in 16 games with one start and leading the team in ERA (1.67) over 37 innings. Entering Friday, he had a 2.77 ERA through 10 starts with 59 strikeouts and 43 hits allowed in 61 innings. He had a 13-strikeout performance in a win over Cornell and 11 against Siena six days later in mid-March. In Ramsey’s last start, at Illinois on Saturday, he allowed six hits and three earned runs in six innings to earn the win for the No. 23 Terps.
The win improves Maryland’s record to 34-8. They are now 18-1 at home and 10-3 in conference play.