March 10, 2005
800!! Austin reaches unprecedented milestone as Methodist wins 20-0 no-hitter over St. Paul’s

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Methodist head baseball coach Tom Austin has accomplished numerous milestones in his 25-plus seasons at the helm of the Monarchs. On Thursday, he accomplished yet another unprecedented milestone with his 800th career victory at Methodist as the Monarchs routed visiting St. Paul’s 20-0 with a no-hitter at Shelley Field.

Austin is now 800-314-9 at Methodist. He becomes the eighth coach in NCAA Division III history to reach that milestone and fourth active coach at the Division III level with 800 career victories.

Three freshmen pitchers combined for Methodist’s first no-hitter since 1993. Starter Spencer Martin struck out the first 11 hitters he faced and finished with 12 strikeouts in five innings. Kalani McKay pitched a hitless sixth inning with two strikeouts and Robert Kisiah pitched the seventh with one strikeout.

Offensively, the Monarchs scored in each of the first five innings, scoring twice in the first, once in the second, five times in the third, four times in the fourth and eight runs in the fifth. It marks the first time that Methodist has scored 20 or more runs in multiple games for the first time since the 1993 season.

Methodist took advantage of eight St. Paul’s errors. The Monarchs batted around in the third, fourth and fifth innings, sending 10 batters to plate in the third and fourth and 14 batters to plate in the fifth.

Eight Monarchs had multiple-hit games. Leading the way was left fielder Jonathan Spivey, who went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Second baseman Bobby Hawkins went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Allen Kent went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Matt Kleckner went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and one RBI. Blake Maxwell went 2-for-6 with a run scored and three RBIs

In addition, Matt Hunt, Michael Carter and Brent Register each went 2-for-2.

Methodist, ranked 21st in NCAA Division III, returns to USA South Athletic Conference action this weekend at home against Averett. The Monarchs play host to the Cougars in a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m., and a single game on Sunday at 2 p.m.