Snelling no-hits Durham through five as Jacksonville rolls 12-0

Jacksonville looked every bit like a club with a higher ceiling when its pitching and power clicked at the same time, and Durham had no answer once the first inning got away from it. Robby Snelling struck out nine over 5.0 no-hit innings, Deyvison De Los Santos opened the scoring with a leadoff home run, and the Jumbo Shrimp rolled to a 12-0 win at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on May 1.

The opening frame told the story immediately. Jacksonville’s first five hitters all reached safely, a burst that turned Jonathan Heasley’s night into damage control before Durham could settle in. De Los Santos homered to start it, then Kemp Alderman and Maximo Acosta added run-scoring singles, and Ethan O’Donnell capped the outburst with an RBI groundout as the Shrimp grabbed a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. By then, the game already felt lopsided.

Snelling made sure it stayed that way. The 22-year-old right-hander worked through five innings without allowing a hit, and the only base runner he permitted came on a walk with two outs in the fourth. Jacksonville did not need perfection behind him, but it played like a team willing to turn one overpowering start into a runaway. Jared Serna added a home run in the fourth, giving the offense another jolt and underscoring that the pressure came from more than one bat.

Durham’s only hit arrived against reliever Justin King in the sixth, when Gavin Lux poked an infield single. By that point, Jacksonville was already ahead 11-0, and the Bulls were trying to survive the rest of the night rather than alter it. The Shrimp finished with 12 runs on 12 hits and no errors, while Durham managed one hit and four strikeouts across the game.

The margin matched Jacksonville’s biggest victory since a 15-3 win over Nashville on June 27 of the previous season. Snelling improved to 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA, then was named International League Pitcher of the Week for April 27-May 3, a fitting nod for a performance that translated prospect promise into immediate results. The game drew 6,851 fans, started at 6:46 p.m., and finished in 2 hours, 51 minutes.