Plant City High School didn’t get much trouble from Hillsborough in a 17-0 win Tuesday night, thanks in large part to pitcher T.J. Gayner’s perfect game. The senior retired all 18 Terriers batters he faced in the six-inning game, striking out six.
“Last night, when he came off the field, he was focused,” head coach Mike Fryrear said. “You could see it in his eyes.”
Gayner got help from a solid defensive effort by the Raiders and said his confidence began to swell around the fourth inning. After the fifth inning, he said, he bucked baseball superstition and told himself he had the chance to throw a perfect game.
“Right at the end of the fifth inning, I said it out loud,” Gayner said. “All my teammates were like, ‘Oh my God.’”
By then, Plant City had built itself a 9-0 lead over the Terriers. The Raiders’ offense erupted to score eight runs in the sixth and, when Hillsborough failed to produce any runs in the bottom of the inning, Gayner’s perfect game was complete.
The Raiders were led offensively by Dylan Robinson’s four RBI and Chris Rodriguez’s three RBI. Demario Williams scored four runs and stole three bases, and Cody Cribbs scored three runs of his own.
Gayner ended the ballgame with something new: a knuckleball strikeout, a pitch the senior added to his arsenal for the 2018 season. The final pitch was only the fourth knuckleball he threw all night.
“Last night, I had a hard time going to sleep,” Gayner said. “The bus ride back, I couldn’t stop smiling. It feels amazing.”