The crowd of 1,421 that was at Brooks Field on Sunday night got to witness one of the greatest pitching performances in UNCW history, as sophomore Nick Monroe tossed a complete game, one hit shutout in his first start of the season.

Monroe’s stellar performance led the Seahawks to an 11-0 victory over the Liberty Flames in the final game of the Buffalo Wild Wings Battle at the Beach. He carried a perfect game into the top of the ninth, two outs away from perfection.

However, with one out in the ninth inning, Liberty catcher Becker Sankey lined a ball inches over Dillon Bass’ glove at second base. The next batter for Liberty lined into a game-ending double play.

27 batters up, 27 batters down, and just one hit recorded.

“By the fourth, fifth inning, I knew something pretty good was going on,” Monroe said. “When you get eight, nine runs in the first three innings it’s pretty easy to pitch.”

Monroe had plenty of support all game, as the Seahawks jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the fourth inning. First baseman Corey Dick got the offense going with a three-run homer over the right field wall in the first inning.

On the defensive side, UNCW played their first error free game of the season.

Before the ninth inning, the closest Liberty came to a base hit came with one out in the top of the eighth. Flame first baseman Alex Close hit a hard ground ball up the middle that looked to be a sure base hit before Seahawk shortstop Terence Conelly ranged over to his left, snow-coned the baseball and threw to first just in time to get the out.

“He put a good swing on it, but I always have confidence in Terence to make the play, and he made it,” Monroe said.

A perfect game in baseball is as rare sight, and it is not something to fool around with. The UNCW players followed serious unwritten rules hoping to help preserve the perfect game for Monroe.

“It’s always just another game, but situations like that you got to leave the guy alone. Let him be in the zone,” Dick said.

UNCW has not had a pitcher throw a perfect game since the 1968 season. In season 22 for head coach Mark Scalf, he witnessed a starter not typically in the weekend rotation throw one of the best pitching performances in school history.

“He commanded the zone on both sides, and down,” Scalf said. “That was certainly one of the better performances. There really weren’t that many balls that were squared up, and that’s to Nick’s [Monroe’s] credit.”

Earlier in the day, the Seahawks cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Ohio Bobcats in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader. Monroe followed up a quality start from fellow sophomore Evan Phillips, who pitched seven innings and a third, allowing just four hits and no runs in the first game of the day.

Aside from solid pitching and power hitting, freshman center fielder Casey Golden made his third career start and provided a spark as Luke Dunlap and Josh Abshire remain sidelined with injuries. Between both games Golden went 3-9, scoring three runs and with one RBI while batting from the leadoff spot.

“Casey has had a lot of quality at bats in three games. He is a tremendous athlete that can make things happen,” Scalf said. “If he can continue to find a way on base, it just sets it up for the guys behind him.”

Sophomore Ryan Foster will be the starting pitcher when the Seahawks travel to Elon for a mid-week matchup this Tuesday. UNCW will then head out west to San Diego next weekend for a tournament featuring the University of San Diego, Baylor, and the University of California.