Throughout the prolific history of the Linn-Benton baseball program, no pitcher has ever recorded a perfect game. On April 3, pitcher Connor Mendez was one hit away from becoming the first.
Mendez’s stellar performance led the Roadrunners to a decisive 1-0 victory over Southwestern Oregon during the first game of a doubleheader at Dick McClain Field against the Lakers. Mendez owned the pitcher’s mound all game, throwing 12 strikeouts, allowing only one hit, and recording zero walks in a dominant nine-inning performance.
“I want to do my best to give us a shot to win every game,” said Mendez. “It’s about the eight guys behind me and just playing for them, really.”
Mendez, a sophomore from Pasco, Wash., transferred over from Saint Martin’s University in the summer of 2024. Enticed by the opportunity Linn-Benton gave him, Mendez entered the 2025 season hoping to bolster the Roadrunners’ bullpen.
Making his seventh start of the 2025 season against Southwestern, Mendez showcased why the program had brought him in. After Mendez got through the entire Southwestern batting order without a blemish in just three swift innings, many in attendance understood the magnitude of the situation.
After outfielder Kolten Lindstrom hit an RBI single to give Linn-Benton the lead in the bottom of the third, Mendez threw his fifth strikeout in the top of the fourth to keep his perfect game intact through 12 batters.
However, facing his 13th batter of the game, Mendez would be taught a quick lesson on why No. 13 is often associated with bad luck. On the opening pitch of the fifth inning, Southwestern infielder Chyler DeSilva looped a ball into right field to give the Lakers their first hit of the game and to break up Mendez’s attempt at perfection.
With the perfect game gone and Linn-Benton clinging on to a narrow 1-0 advantage, Mendez understood that he couldn’t let one hit spiral his pitching performance out of control. Following DeSilva’s single in the top of the fifth, Mendez would throw seven more strikeouts while never allowing another runner on base.
When all was said and done and Mendez had retired his final batter of the day on his 12th strikeout, he left the mound with 76 strikes on 104 pitches thrown this season while bringing his ERA down to an astounding mark of 0.52.
While the stats were nothing to take lightly, Mendez was happiest with only one thing: the win for the team.
“I don’t really look at stats, I try to just go inning by inning, pitch by pitch,” said Mendez. “If we’re winning the game, then I’m okay with the outcome.”
In baseball, a perfect game is one of the rarest feats a player can achieve. It only occurs when a pitcher gets through an entire nine-inning game without allowing a single opposition player to reach base via hits, walks, or errors.
Since the foundation of the MLB’s National League in 1876, only 24 pitchers have managed to throw a perfect game at the professional level. Since 1959, only 23 pitchers have managed to throw a nine-inning perfect game at the NCAA level.
While Mendez was one hit shy of reaching the illustrious achievement, his dominant display received plaudits from fans, coaches, and even NWAC league officials. On April 9, Mendez earned recognition as the NWAC Athlete of the Week for baseball pitchers in the conference.
To top it all off, Linn-Benton head coach Andy Peterson praised his pitcher for putting on one of the best performances he had ever seen at Dick McClain Field.
“Mendez was unbelievable; that’s one of the best performances I’ve seen at this field by anyone, hitter or pitcher,” said Peterson. “One pitch away from being perfect.”
During Peterson’s tenure as head coach of the Roadrunners, several former Linn-Benton pitchers have gone on to pitch at the D-1 level. Last year, former Linn-Benton pitchers Ethan Kleinschmit and Gabe Brabec signed to play for Oregon State and Gonzaga, respectively.
Even before Peterson joined the program, Linn-Benton had a rich history of developing pitchers. Of the 48 ex-Roadrunner baseball players who have been drafted by an MLB organization, 30 of them were pitchers.
With only eight hits allowed through six appearances on the season and a team-leading tally of 40 strikeouts, Mendez has a legitimate shot at moving on to the next level once his time at Linn-Benton concludes. But if and when he does play bigger games at the D-1 level, Mendez’s brush with perfection as a Roadrunner will be hard to forget.
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This article originally appeared in the April 2025 edition of The Commuter.
