Trojans Control Spring Arbor in Both Ends of Doubleheader Sweep
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SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – TU turned in a dominant afternoon on the diamond in Michigan, pounding out 23 runs on 29 hits, while holding the host Spring Arbor club to five total runs en route to sweeping the Cougars by the scores of 13-1 and 10-4 on Thursday.
Clay Riggins, Kole Barkhaus and Justin Pettit combined on a two-hitter in the opener, with Riggins improving to 4-0 on the bump with a brisk four-inning start. Riggins limited SAU to one run on two hits, while fanning six, before Barkhaus and Pettit slammed the door by allowing only one base runner over the last three frames. The trio of pitchers cut through the Cougar bats for eight strikeouts in the seven-inning game and held SAU hitless over the final six innings, while yielding only two base runners.
The Trojan bats erupted for 13 runs on 14 hits, pushing across at least one run in five of the seven innings. TU struck for three in the first and broke the game open with three in the sixth and five in the seventh.
Austin Mettica delivered a pinch-hit home run, while Josh Lane, Jared Adkins, Tanner Watson and Sam Wiese each doubled. Adkins joined Brett Lawson, Wyatt Whitman and Nathan Targgart in collecting two hits and Wiese drove in three runs.
The nightcap was much more competitive early, as the teams traded tallies throughout the opening five innings, before Taylor broke loose for four runs in the top of the sixth to take a 7-4 lead. Targgart sparked the game-changing rally with a two-out, go-ahead two-run double, before back-to-back singles from Andrew Kennedy and Wiese and consecutive walks to Lawson and Lane opened up the three-run cushion.
Taylor tacked on in the eighth and ninth, as Targgart slapped his fifth hit of the game and later scored on an Adkins sacrifice fly for an 8-4 lead in the eighth, before Whitman and Targgart drove home runs in the ninth to cap the scoring.
Targgart closed the game 5-5 at the dish with three RBI, while Whitman had three hits and scored twice. Kennedy and Lane also collected two hits each.
Luke Shively (5-0) tossed 4.1 dominant innings in relief of Tucker Waddups to collect the win out of the bullpen. The freshman hurler picked up four strikeouts and kept SAU off the scoreboard to give the TU bats time to put the game away.
Taylor (26-9, 6-4 CL) is set to complete the three-game series with Spring Arbor (17-17, 8-6 CL) on Saturday, with a nine-inning game scheduled for 1:00 pm.