On June 16th, Fernando Hernandez Jr. struck out 19 New York Knights in a complete game no-hit shutout. Hernandez walked only one in the game. With 2 out in the 8th inning he still had a perfect game going, facing Sergio Perez. Perez was the only Knight not to strike out in the game. With a 3-2 count, he fouled off a pitch before taking one just off the plate to become the only Knight to reach base. Hernandez then struck out Jeff Peterson to end the inning. At that point he had thrown 112 pitches.
In the 9th the first batter, Robert Zoffinger, struck out. That put Fernando one away from 20 with 2 chances to go. In both the OOTP (2015-) and APBA eras (1997-2014), no pitcher had struck out more than 17 in a game. Earlier this season Carson Olsen struck out 17, and Stephen Hamburg struck out 17 in a 2018 game. While game logs are not available for every season of the APBA era, there are 4 documented games of 17 strikeouts. In 1988, Wingspan struck out 23 in a game where he also walked double digits.
Hernandez is a second generation big leaguer who grew up in Delaware. His father, who was born in Puerto Rico, pitched 13 season and no lives in Wilmington. Fernando Sr. subscribes to OOTP.TV so he can watch his son's Utah games, but was at the ballpark to watch this one since the trip to New York was not a long one for him. Fernando Sr. said while the game was going on, he would not say a word to his son, or allow his wife or any of his other 5 children to do so out of fear of a jinx.
Hernandez fell behind 2-0 to Greg West, got a called strike, and then a weak groundout to second base. The last batter would be Casey Robinson. Hernandez jumped ahead 0-2, then went to his best pitch, the knuckle curve. Hernandez was denied the 20th strikeout as the ball was put into play. Third baseman Monte Tufnel fielded the ball and threw to first to record the no-hitter.
Fernando Hernandez Sr. pitched 13 years, but was never a star. He was a relief pitcher, but never a closer. His career high in saves was 4. When asked what his dad had done to prepare him for big league success, Fernando Jr. said that growing up around the game was a good experience, but he didn't learn his changeup or knuckle curve from his dad, but by experimenting with grips and talking to a variety of pitchers, including Tom Groovine, Joel Camels, and Scott Arroyo (who pitched for the 2012 Rugrats with Fernando Sr. and is currently a teammate of Junior on the Utes.) "Scott has a great changeup. He taught me that when I was 12 years old and I'm glad he's still around to give me pointers. As far as papa, the biggest thing he did was to encourage me to throw with my left hand. He was a righty, but he keeps saying if he was a lefty he'd still be in the big leagues."
As of early July, Fernando Jr. has established himself as the Utah ace at only 21. He is 6-4 with a 2.99 ERA and has struck out 158 batters against only 21 walks in 117 innings. He is one of the game's brightest young stars.
