NUTTER FORT, W.Va. -- Senior southpaw Doug Conrad (West Chester, Pa./Downingtown West) has been put through the wringer during his career at Kutztown University.

A freshman season filled with promise in 2017 was thrown off the tracks in 2018 when he was forced to miss the entire follow-up campaign due to injury. He returned in 2019, but found mixed results in a bumpy season for the entire team.

Saturday, the West Chester native got HIS moment.

Conrad struck out 10 batters and yielded just a lone walk in throwing Kutztown's first no-hitter since 2014 in the Golden Bears' 4-0 game one victory at Salem. Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) hit a three-run homer in the night cap, but the host Tigers rallied late to earn a split, 6-4.

Each of the Golden Bears' two previous no-hitters prior to Conrad's gem were of the combined variety. On March 20, 2014, Ryan Clow and Zach Wasson teamed to blank Virginia State, 6-0. Clow was also part of a no-no on March 19, 2013 when five KU hurlers combined to hold Shaw without a hit in a 13-0 victory.

Prior to Saturday, former two-time Major League Baseball draft pick Nate Reed was the last Golden Bear to go the distance in a no-hitter, striking out nine in seven innings of a 13-0 win against Bloomsburg, April 18, 2010.

GAME 1
Kutztown 4, Salem 0

Kutztown scored a single run in every other inning and Conrad faced the minimum 21 batters in registering his first collegiate no-hitter and the program's first since 2014.

Back-to-back singles from Mitch Pinder (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown) and Jake Augustus (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh) put the Bears in business in the top of the first. Zach Moretski (Harleysville, Pa./La Salle College H.S.) put KU ahead 1-0 with a sacrifice fly.

No one knew what a special moment they were in for at the time, but amazingly, Conrad's afternoon started with a lead-off walk issued to Noah Suarez after a 10-pitch battle. After Tyler Ault lined out, KU freshman catcher Antonio Rossillo (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) nabbed Suarez trying to steal second. Conrad would not allow another Tiger to reach base from there.

Conrad struck out two batters in the second, third and seventh innings, finishing one shy of his career-high 11. After Suarez's lengthy opening at-bat, Conrad needed just 72 pitches to finish the Tigers off and improve to 3-0 on the young season.

Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) doubled Kutztown's (5-2) lead in the third inning with a sac fly for his team-leading 15th RBI of the season. Pinder, who went 2-for-3 with a double, scored his second run of the game on the play. Moretski accounted for the remaining two runs, singling home Augustus in the fifth and blasting a solo homer --his second of the year-- to right center in the seventh.

Moretski totaled a team-high three hits (3-for-3) and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Jacoby Pate (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) joined Pinder with two hits, while Augustus, Mike Piscotty (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Hanover Area) and Greg Power (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) all went 1-for-3.

Jaryd Lund took the loss for Salem (7-8), giving up three runs on eight hits over four innings. Billy Lintner struck out four in 2.1 innings of relief for the hosts.

GAME 2
Salem 6, Kutztown 4

Two-time PSAC East Athlete of the Week Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) hit a three-run go-ahead home run in the top of the fourth inning, but the Golden Bears could not make it stand up.

Salem retook the lead on Tyler D'Alessandro's two-run single in the sixth and added an insurance run on a double steal attempt to win the nightcap, 6-4.

The top of Kutztown's order continued to do damage with Pinder going 3-for-3, Augustus picking up two hits, including a double, and Bishop smacking his team-leading third homer while running his team-leading RBI total to 18.

Since a 1-for-14 opening weekend at Chowan, Pinder has been red hot, going 8-for-14 (.571) with six RBIs, four doubles and three multi-hit performances over his last four games.

Bishop's round-tripper in the fourth put the Maroon and Gold (5-3) ahead 3-2, but Noah Suarez answered for Salem with a run-scoring single to even the score in the bottom of the inning. Pinder plated Connor Teschko (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley Regional) with a single to left in the fifth for a 4-3 lead, which Kutztown would maintain until D'Alessandro's clutch at-bat in the sixth.

Dominic Proietto (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) got the call in game two and delivered four strikeouts in four innings while giving up three runs on six hits. He did not factor into the decision. Freshman classmate Trevor Leverington (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) took the loss with three runs allowed in 1.2 innings, but did fan a pair of Tiger batters.

D'Alessandro's fourth hit of the game made a winner out of Jason Gomez, who struck out all three batters he faced in a perfect sixth inning. Carson Ellis locked it down in the seventh to record his second save.

D'Alessandro went 4-for-4 with three doubles and four RBIs. All nine Tiger (8-8) hits came off the bats of center fielder D'Alessandro, catcher Dalton Robison (3-for-3, 2B) and second baseman Suarez (2-for-3).

ON DECK
Kutztown and Salem meet in the rubber game at Frank Loria Memorial Field tomorrow at noon.