Who is Ron Necciai?

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Ron Necciai [net-shy], born Ronald Andrew Necciai (June 18, 1932 in Gallatin, Pennsylvania), is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1952 season. He batted and threw right-handed.

Necciai was called up to the Pirates when he was still 19. In his brief major league career, he posted a 1-6 record with 31 strikeouts and a 7.08 ERA in 54.2 innings pitched.

But Necciai is best remembered for the unique feat of striking out 27 batters in a nine-inning game .

On May 13, 1952, while playing for the Class-D Appalachian League Bristol Twins (not related in any way to the much later Minnesota Twins), Necciai struck out 27 batters while pitching a 7-0 no-hitter against the Welch Miners. Four of the Welch hitters did reach base on a walk, an error, a hit by pitch and a passed ball charged to Twins' catcher Harry Dunlop on a swinging third strike. This resulted in a four-strikeout ninth inning. The only batter who made put a ball in play was retired on a grounder in the second inning.

In his next start, Necciai threw a 24-strikeout two-hitter. In that season he struck out 109 hitters in 43 innings with Bristol, and a Carolina League-high 172 in 126 innings at Durham before getting the call to Pittsburgh.

Necciai, suffering from a severe attack of stomach ulcers, also was hampered by a torn rotator cuff injury, which at the time he played was a career-ending injury. He tried for three years to come back with the Pirates, but after a brief try in 1955, he gave up.

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