Four Pitchers Combine For No-Hitter In Brown Baseball’s Win Over Holy Cross

Brown University Press Release

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Four Brown pitchers combined to toss a no hitter at Murray Stadium as the Bears topped Holy Cross 3-0 on Tuesday afternoon. Bobby Olsen, Charlie Beilenson, Paxton Meyers and Jack Seppings all combined on the no-no with seven strikeouts and one walk, facing just two batters over the minimum.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• On the mound, Olsen mowed through the first three innings with one walk and one strikeout.
• Beilenson earned the win in relief, tossing a season-high 4.0 perfect innings on just 40 pitches with one strikeout.
• Meyers struck out the side in a perfect eighth inning.
• Seppings recorded his second save in as many games by getting the final three outs, striking out two, including a strikeout looking for the final out of the game.
• Brown pitchers needed just 103 pitches to get all 27 outs, with 16 coming via groundouts, four on fly balls, and seven on strikeouts.
• At the plate, Reece Rappoli led the offense with a 4-for-4 performance with an RBI and run scored.
• Nathan Brasher and Ray Sass each added a hit and run scored.
• Catcher Jacob Burley caught the no hitter and added an RBI with a sac fly.
• Time of the game: 1 hour, 43 minutes.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brown jumped in front with a run in the bottom of the second inning. Rappoli led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Brasher off the top of the left field wall. Two batters later, Burley plated Rappoli with a sac fly to left field for the 1-0 lead.
• Brown plated two more runs, both unearned, in the third inning. Sass singled and stole second with two outs, then came home on a dropped fly ball in shallow right field.
• Up next, Rappoli stepped in and drilled a double into the right center field gap to score Brasher and push the Bears lead to 3-0.
• Brown was held scoreless over the final five innings, scattering three hits.
• Following a walk and hits batsman in consecutive at bats in the third inning, Brown pitchers retired the last 19 Crusaders in a row.
• Holy Cross’ had a chance to spoil the no-hit bid with one out in the ninth on a drive to deep center field, but was hauled in on the run on the warning track by Derian Morphew.

POSTGAME QUOTES:

• “Every day we preach to our pitchers to attack hitters, and they just did a really good job of that. The energy in the dugout from start to finish contributed to the energy on the field, and it showed.” – head coach Grant Achilles.

• “Reece (Rappoli) has been getting pitched really tough recently and today he had some balls drop in and hit a few hard too. It has been good to see him get back into the good graces of the hitting.” – head coach Grant Achilles
• “Today wasn’t just about the pitching, it was about the pitching and defense together. A lot of those plays had our infielders and outfielders moving. Thinking back to earlier in the game when (Brasher) made a good play on a ball down the left field line, and that play in the ninth where Derian had to go out there and get it.” – head coach Grant Achilles
• “From the get-go out on the mound, I had the mentality of going right after these hitters, and working faster than them. It felt like I was ahead and working to stay ahead. With baseball being such a mental game, if you’re having better mental space than them, you already have the advantage and it’s just taking control of that advantage. It was probably the best outing that I’ve had in my career here.” – senior Charlie Beilenson, winning pitcher

Up next, the Bears will host Columbia for a three-game Ivy League series this weekend, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN+.