The Hampton Whalers’ inaugural season has already been a magical one, and the summer is just halfway over. Hampton righthander Phil Klein, a rising sophomore at Youngstown State, threw the first perfect game in Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League history in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday, needing just 71 pitches to retire all 21 batters he faced in the seven-inning contest. Klein struck out six and went to three-ball counts just three times. He snared a hot comebacker off the bat of Frank Esposito for the final out, just a day after Esposito had broken up Andrew Guarrasi’s no-hitter in the seventh inning. That secured the first ACBL perfect game in the league’s modern era, which dates back to 1977, and set off a frenzied celebration on the field.

"I had a lot of fun with it, and I know everyone there had a lot of fun with it," Klein told Hamptons.com. "Everything worked out well for us–the offense came through, the pitching was good and the defense did a good job. When you’ve got all three of those things working, it’s hard to lose."

Klein has allowed just one earned run over his last three starts to lower his ERA to 1.16. He’ll represent the Kaiser Division in the league’s all-star game, which was originally scheduled for yesterday but was postponed by weather until July 28 at St. John’s.