Montani fires no-hitter in front of pro scouts

Junior baseball pitcher Jeff Montani (Liverpool, N.Y.) became the first Binghamton pitcher in nine years to record a complete-game no-hitter, shutting down Division I Lehigh on February 24. Binghamton won the game, 2-1, and earned a split with the host Mountain Hawks.

Montani struck out four, induced two double play balls, and allowed just two balls out of the infield. He faced 24 batters, and closed out the gem by striking out the final two batters in the seventh inning. Montani allowed a run in the third inning after a hit batter-walk-wild pitch-sacrifice fly sequence, but only allowed one other ball out of the infield in seven innings.

"Despite windchills in the 20s, Jeff was able to get loose and have command of his fastball, which was consistently in the low 90 mph range," head coach Tim Sinicki said. "His fastball was heavy, and had late sinking action, which resulted in many ground ball outs. He showed great poise throughout the game, and at times, made it look easy."

Montani was named Pitcher of the Week by the New York State Baseball Conference, and evened his season record to 2-2. He also lowered his earned run average to 4.61 - best among BU's starters.

Major League Baseball scouts have been expressing interest in Montani as a possible selection in the June amateur draft.

"There were three major league teams represented at Lehigh, and we 've received numerous phone calls from other teams, anxious to watch Jeff's next couple of starts, Sinicki said."

He is scheduled to start Binghamton's game Thursday at Army.