Never in the long history of Wayne High baseball has a Blue Devil pitcher thrown a perfect game.
Until Monday.
Brooks Kneifl mowed down 13 GACC/S-S batters and kept the Patriots off the basepaths to record the first perfect game in WHS baseball history as the Blue Devils came away with a 1-0 win Monday afternoon at Hank Overin Field.
Kneifl was masterful from the start, throwing 17 first-pitch strikes to the 21 Patriot batters he faced and needed only 85 pitches to record the historic masterpiece.
GACC/S-S starter Reese Slecht did his best to keep pace with his Blue Devil counterpart, limiting Wayne to a single hit in 5 2/3 innings and striking out five. Wayne’s only run came in the first inning when Gavin Redden led off the inning with a walk and came home on a two-out fly ball by James Dorcey that was mishandled in the outfield, allowing Redden to come around with the only run of the game.
Kneifl struck out the first seven batters he faced and had a hand in all of the first nine outs of the game, catching a line drive for the second out of the third inning and getting a strikeout to end the third.
Wayne’s only other offensive threat came in the fifth when Wyatt Heikes recorded the only hit of the game, a single to short right field. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Toby Braun, but was left stranded at second.
The 4-4 Blue Devils are scheduled to host South Sioux City this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at Hank Overin Field.
Complete story in this week’s edition of The Wayne Herald.
