Grafton's Brady Gunderson throws perfect game on 18th Birthday

By Tom Mix
NDHSAA Media Specialist

GRAFTON, N.D. – Another North Dakota prep baseball player has thrown a perfect game.

The latest perfect game was turned in by Grafton senior right-hander Brady Gunderson on his 18th birthday – Tuesday, April 23 – during the Spoilers’ 3-0 win over Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich.

Gunderson retired all 21 batters in order on 78 pitches and finished the game with four strikeouts.

“It’s a dream come true,” Gunderson said. “After the third inning I had (the perfect game bid) in my head, but I just tried to keep hitting my spots.”

The game was a Region 4 counter. Grafton head coach Joe Demers said Gunderson’s execution of pitches stood out on Tuesday.

“Brady had a good mix of pitches,” Demers said. “He was changing speeds and using his curveball effectively. Our defense played well behind him. A perfect game in seven innings is something you don’t see very often.”

Gunderson is relatively new to starting, pitching primarily out of the bullpen prior to Tuesday’s gem. He made one start earlier this year, but prior to that his only other start came in Legion baseball.

Against the Cardinals, Gunderson had a strategy and stuck to it.

“Langdon Area/Edmore/Munich is an aggressive team at the plate, but we didn’t give into them,” Gunderson said. “I was throwing a lot of off-speed pitches and got them to make some bad swings that turned into groundouts and flyouts. I had good location on all my pitches. My curveball was breaking like it is supposed to, but location was the big thing.”

There were a couple close calls that threatened perfection.

“The wind probably helped me out a little bit,” Gunderson said. “There was a blooper that I thought was going to fall in for a single, but the wind must have caught it and our second baseman was able to get under it. There was another slow roller to second base that looked like trouble, but we made the out.”

A week ago, Ray senior Trevor Hayes pitched five perfect innings in a 13-0 win over Stanley.

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