Patton Fires One-Hit Shutout in Sweep of Viterbo
UPLAND, Ind. – The Trojans continued their roll at Winterholter Field on Friday, moving to 11-1 at home with 4-0 and 10-1 wins over Viterbo. Matt Patton highlighted the sweep by tossing a one-hit shutout in the opener.
Patton was in total control throughout the seven-inning affair, needing only 87 pitches to record 21 outs and carrying a perfect game through 3.2 innings. Patton allowed a soft single into center field, before retiring the final 10 batters in order. The single was Viterbo's only base runner of the game and the lone ball to reach the outfield against Patton, who racked up eight strikeouts, 10 ground ball outs and three infield pop outs in the game.
The senior ace improved to 5-1 in seven outings and pushed his strikeout-to-walk ratio for 46-to-one through 40.1 innings of work on the bump this season. Patton also lowered his earned-run average to 0.67, to go with a 0.55 WHIP and .157 average against.
The Trojans got the only run they needed in the bottom of the first when Brett Lawson doubled, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly from Tanner Watson. TU picked up two more runs in the third and another in the fifth.
Lawson closed the game 2-4 with a double and two runs scored, while Jared Adkins picked up two hits, knocked in a pair of runs and stole two of TU's six bases in the contest.
TU kept the V-Hawk sticks in check in the second game as well, as Tucker Waddups (3-2) battled his control throughout his start but escaped jams in the third and fourth frames to carry a shutout into the fifth.
Viterbo finally got on the board in the fifth for its lone score of the day, but Rob Fox entered to clean up the fifth, before handing the ball over to Trevor Booth and Colin Pfotenhauer for one inning of work each.
Taylor stayed active on the bases, piling up eight more thefts without getting caught. Christian McGill and Adkins each swiped two and the Trojans built a 4-0 cushion, before blowing the game open with a six-run fifth in the 10-1 win.
Nathan Targgart collected three hits and two doubles in the game to push his season average to .515 over 68 at bats, while bumping his on-base clip to .590. Watson, Austin Mettica and Josh Lane all had two hits, while Lane knocked in three runs.
Taylor (17-5) is now 17-2 on the season when scoring at least two runs and will host Oakland City on Saturday at noon for a pair of seven-inning contests.