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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After his perfect game-effort last week against George Washington, Will Roberts (Jr., Richmond, Va.) has been named one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week, the publication announced today. He also earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors.

Roberts shared Collegiate Baseball’s national honor with Georgia Southern’s Victor Roache, TCU’s Kyle Winkler and Stanford’s Lonnie Kauppila. He also notched ACC Pitcher of the Week laurels for the first time in his career.

Roberts recorded the eighth nine-inning perfect game in NCAA Division I baseball (since 1957) in a 2-0 victory over George Washington last Tuesday at Davenport Field. Roberts recorded 27 straight outs and needed just 98 pitches to earn the second perfect game in ACC history.

It was the 19th perfect game of any length in NCAA Division I history, the first for any pitcher in Division I since 2002 and the first in the Virginia annals.

Roberts tossed nine perfect innings and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts. It was the first complete game of Roberts’ career; his previous career high was 7.2 innings, set earlier this season against Niagara.

Roberts is just the second ACC pitcher to notch a perfect game. Maryland’s Dick Reitz posted the only other perfect game on April 10, 1959, against Johns Hopkins.
It marked the first perfect game in Division I baseball since March 2, 2002, when Auburn’s Eric Brandon recorded 27 straight outs in a perfect game against Murray State.

It was the first no-hitter at Virginia since Mike Ballard held Boston College hitless on April 16, 2006, at Davenport Field.

Roberts (5-0) was rarely tested – in addition to his 10 strikeouts, Roberts recorded 14 groundouts and three flyouts – only one ball left the infield.

Virginia returns home at 6 p.m. Tuesday to take on Radford. Roberts is scheduled to make the start on the mound for Virginia.

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