One of baseball's most difficult accomplishments to achieve was met Thursday when Southern Poly pitcher Sean Teague threw a nine-inning perfect game in the Hornets 9-0 win at Southern States Athletic Conference rival Reinhardt.

Teague, a senior, threw 100 pitches and struck out 12 in earning the victory. He improved to 6-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.27.

"It started to hit me, probably, in the fifth inning," Teague said in a telephone interview after the game. "I was like, 'Wow, I've gotten this far without messing up. Just keep throwing strikes and trying to get guys out.'"

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander acknowledged that he couldn't have done it without his teammates.

"I'm still in shock right now," said Teague, who is in his second year at Southern Poly after transferring from Campbell University, where he did not play baseball. "It still hasn't hit me yet, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates backing me up. The defense played great, and they just kept making plays."

Teague's job was made even easier as Southern Poly (42-6, 20-5), which is ranked fourth in the NAIA, scored runs in five of the first six innings in building a 9-0 lead. One of the Hornets' top pitchers, Teague induced nine groundouts and six fly balls in facing the minimum 27 batters.

"This is definitely the highlight of my career," Teague said. "I've never even pitched a complete, nine-inning game before, so to (throw a perfect game), it's like I hit a trifecta - compete game, no-hitter and a perfect game - all rolled into one. It's an awesome feeling."

"Sean had complete control of his pitches and dominated the game from start to finish," Southern Poly coach Matt Griffin said. "This was the best pitching performance I've ever seen in my 10 years of coaching.

As the game progressed, Reinhardt's players cheered themselves on in attempt to break the perfect game. In the Hornets' dugout, the exact opposite occurred as, with each passing inning, the team grew quieter, as is the baseball tradition when a pitcher has a no-hitter or perfect game going.

"My teammates just started getting quiet," Teague said. "No one would say anything when I came to the dugout, thinking they might jinx it. It was kind of funny. You could tell it was intense, though."

Teague began to feel a little nervous in the eighth inning, when he fell behind the Eagles' first batter with a 3-1 count.

"When I fell behind that guy, I thought I was about to walk him and blow the perfect game," he said. "He ended up grounding out and I finished the inning. At that point, I was thinking, 'Alright, just one more inning left. I can do this.'"

Teague's final out of the game was a ground ball to short. As soon as the play was over, his teammates rushed the field.

Setting Teague up to get the win was a Southern Poly offense that totaled 12 hits. Former Kennesaw Mountain High School standout Daniel Hester was 3-for-5 with a double, Josh Grooms and Justin Ray each had two hits and Mason Heller added a three-run home run.