Kennedy Tosses One-Hitter in Taylor’s Split at MVNU
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MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – Freshman Andrew Kennedy turned in his finest collegiate outing on Saturday, firing a one-hit shutout over seven frames in Taylor’s 11-0 victory at Mount Vernon Nazarene. TU could not complete the sweep however, as a late game-two rally ended short in a 5-4 defeat.
Kennedy (4-0) stole the show on the afternoon, needing only 85 pitches to complete the seven-inning contest. Kennedy allowed the only MVNU hit in the bottom of the third, before facing the minimum over the final four innings and closing the one-hit shutout with three strikeouts.
Kennedy stayed hot at the plate as well, going 2-4 with a run and three runs driven in during the 11-0 rout. Tanner Watson, Austin Mettica and Sam Weise also had multi-hit games in the 13-hit onslaught for TU, with Watson, Wiese, Nathan Targgart and Jared Adkins all notching one double.
In the nightcap, Mettica collected an RBI single to score Watson for a 1-0 lead in the opening inning of action and Adkins walked and scored on a sacrifice fly for a 2-1 edge in the fifth.
MVNU (21-13, 6-4 CL) rallied for runs in the next three innings and took a 5-2 cushion into the top of the ninth, before the Trojan mounted one final rally.
The frame opened with walks to Wyatt Whitman and Kennedy, before a run-scoring single by Josh Pfotenhauer and a sac fly from Adkins cut the deficit to one with two outs. A wild pitch moved the potential game-tying run to third base but the Cougars picked up the final out to escape with the 5-4 victory and salvage a split on their home turf.
Targgart collected three of TU’s seven hits in the loss, while Adkins walked three times and added a run and an RBI.
Taylor (18-13, 7-3 CL) will host Spring Arbor (12-18, 5-5 CL) on Monday at 5:00 pm, before heading back to MVNU to complete the series against the Cougars on Tuesday at 4:00 pm.
