Blue Waves sophomore pitches first perfect game in school history

Perfection is an anomaly — especially on the baseball diamond — but on Tuesday afternoon at Pulaski Street Sports Complex, Riverhead’s sophomore pitching phenom Matthew Zambriski made it a reality. Riverhead defeated Central Islip 22-0 and Zambriski threw a perfect game — retiring all 21 batters in a seven-inning complete game shutout — the first in school history, according to head coach Kevin Kerman.

Zambriski’s gem also marked the first no-hitter by a Blue Waves hurler since 2013, when Matt Crohan threw two back-to-back no-nos to open his senior year. 

But this was different. This was literal perfection. Zambriski didn’t issue any walks, struck out 16 of 21 batters and threw just 75 pitches in seven innings — 65 for strikes.

“Every time he steps on the mound we know we might witness something special,” Kerman said. “He’s got that type of stuff. He’s got the body and the build and he finally has the mindset to be able to dominate. And he’s done it all year long for us.”

The 6-foot-4 righty has thrown 25.1 innings this season with 49 strikeouts and a 1.65 ERA. He no-hit Longwood through the first five innings earlier this season. His fastball clocks in around 86 to 87 miles per hour and often leaves hitters helpless.

“I know I can give myself a chance every day to do something cool on the baseball field,” Zambriski said. “I have confidence in myself and I have confidence in my stuff. Warming up in the bullpen today I felt really good. I felt like I had everything working.”

When he took the mound, you could tell Zambriski meant business, retiring the side in order and striking out all six batters in the first two innings. The zip on his pitches was simply next level and every Central Islip hitter coming up against him had trouble catching up to the ball.

“Getting those strikeouts only made me more confident as the game went on,” Zambriski said. “I was focusing on hitting the glove. I knew my teammates had my back even if I didn’t get the strikeout.”

In the sixth inning, a Central Islip batter hit a grounder up the middle that looked like it might sneak through for a single, but shortstop Cam Wallace came out of nowhere, slid in front of the ball and made a confident throw across the diamond for the out. 

Central Islip then had the top of the order coming to the plate in the top of the seventh. If the perfecto was meant to be broken it would be right then and there. But Zambriski struck out the first batter, retired the second on a fly ball and handled the final out himself, corralling an infield pop up on the pitcher’s mound before being mobbed by his teammates. 

“All I was thinking in the final at bat was, ‘Don’t hit him, don’t hit him,’ because I wanted to keep the perfect game alive,” Zambriski said. “When I saw that short popup hit to me I had so much relief rush through my body. This is easily the best moment in my career so far.”

The win over Central Islip marks seven in a row for the Blue Waves. It’s been a massive turnaround for a team that managed to win only five games the last two years. In Kerman’s third season as head coach, Riverhead is four wins away from clinching a playoff spot with eight games to play. 

“There had to be a culture change here,” Kerman said. “We had to change how we went about things here and how we carried ourselves on and off the field. We started doing winter workouts, we enrolled in a fall league, we play at Lasorda Legacy Park during our off months, and we don’t take days off. If it’s raining we find a turf field. We’re committing to turning this thing around and I feel like finally we’re starting to see those results of all the hard work we put in the last two years. Truth is, we’re only getting started.”