Vanderbilt Commodores star pitcher Jack Leiter churned out yet another dominant outing on his apparent march to the big leagues.
The second-generation baseball star, son of former MLB All-Star pitcher Al Leiter, tossed a no-hitter against South Carolina on Saturday, striking out a whopping 16 Gamecocks batters in a 5-0 win at Hawkins Field in Nashville.
The New Jersey native finished off his masterpiece with a swinging strikeout -- his 16th on the day and 49th of the year -- and was immediately mobbed by his teammates.
The right-hander, who turns 21 next month, faced 28 batters, one over the minimum, thus narrowly missing out on a potential perfect game by the margin of one walk. Amazingly, the free pass came on a full count, against the first batter of the game in the top half of the first inning.
The nine scoreless frames whittled Leiter's season ERA down to a microscopic 0.31 through 29 innings in the young season.
Leiter threw 86 of his 124 pitches for strikes, and appeared to touch 97 on his 100th offering.
It was Vanderbilt's first no-no since Kumar Rocker did it in June 2019, according to an ESPN graphic.
Leiter's father, Al, was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1984 and was later a well-regarded prospect when he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Jesse Barfield. He was a late bloomer in Toronto, and established himself as a dependable veteran lefty with the Florida Marlins and New York Mets, earning an All-Star nod with each team.
Al, a left-hander, no-hit the Colorado Rockies in May 1996, walking two walks with one hit batsman.
Jack Leiter seems to be a consensus top-5 draft pick, with some projecting him to go first overall in July. The Yankees drafted him in the 20th round in 2019 on the off chance he had chosen to go pro, but he opted for college as expected.
The Pittsburgh Pirates own the first pick in the draft, and could have first dibs on Leiter should they go that route.
The rest of the top 10:
2. Texas Rangers
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Baltimore Orioles
6. Arizona Diamondbacks
7. Kansas City Royals
8. Colorado Rockies
9. Los Angeles Angels
10. New York Mets