Elon Junior Robbie Welhaf Throws First No-Hitter Of 2017

ELON, N.C.—In just his third collegiate start, Elon redshirt junior Robbie Welhaf threw the first no-hitter of the 2017 season Saturday against Longwood.

The righthander capped off the first no-hitter in the Phoenix’s Division I era with his career-high eighth strikeout, with just a walk and a hit by pitch against him in the 100-pitch performance.

“You try not to think about it, but it’s always in the back of your head,” Welhaf said. “But with our defense and how things were going, you just keep on doing what you’re doing. You can’t really expect that to happen, so you just keep on going. Lucky for me, it just happened.”

Elon coach Mike Kennedy said Welhaf was on a 90-pitch limit, but his ability to get outs early in the count and let his defense help him was key.

“At the end of the day, it’s an easy decision,” Kennedy said. “He was still throwing well, he didn’t looked gassed at all. He had a lot of quick innings, he didn’t have to stay out there long. Obviously, it’s a no-hitter, but there’s a lot of things that went in his favor to say, ‘We’re at 90 anyway, let’s try to let him finish it.’ That part was easy, to be quite honest with you.”

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound righthander, who has battled injuries in his time at Elon, sat around 90-91 mph with his fastball throughout the game but pleased Kennedy by holding off on using his changeup until later in the game.

“He pitched like you want to call a game,” Kennedy said. “He used what he needed to early, and then he had something in the tank that they hadn’t seen in that changeup. In the sixth inning, he started throwing that changeup, and it was lights out. If you don’t have to use it and show it early, then don’t do it. Now you have something to go to, and boy, that was awesome.”

Kennedy praised Welhaf’s pitching in the preseason, saying he’s been one of the better pitchers on Elon’s roster in the past three weeks. But both pitcher and coach couldn’t have imagined that Welhaf would throw the school’s first no-hitter in at least two decades in his first start of the season.

“He might move to the Friday spot if he pitches like that,” Kennedy joked.