Taylor Edges Marian in Crossroads League Opener
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INDIANAPOLIS – The Crossroads League schedule opened on Friday, with RV Taylor taking a 3-1 victory at Marian to open a key series between two of the favorites to contend for the league crown.
Taylor scored all three of its runs in the second inning, as Austin Mettica opened the rally by getting hit by a pitch and consecutive singles from Sam Wiese, Jared Adkins and Andrew Kennedy pushed across the first tally. The Trojans tacked on the second and third scores with run-scoring outs off the bats of Josh Lane and Wyatt Whitman.
TU ace, Matt Patton, continued his dominant start to the 2018 season, fanning five batters in the first two innings and settling in to carry a shutout into the seventh inning.
Marian mounted its first threat of the game in the seventh, as a single, an error and a rare free pass loaded the bases with one out and ended Patton’s afternoon. Rob Fox was summoned from the Taylor bullpen to escape the jam and did just that, while allowing only one run to cross the plate.
The Knights again loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning but Luke Shively entered to slam the door on the win by retiring each of the five batters he faced over the final two innings.
Patton improved to 6-1 by holding MU without an earned run over 6.1 frames and striking out eight to push his strikeout total on the season to 54 to just two walks over 46.2 innings of work. Shively collected his first save, working a crisp 1.2 innings in relief to close out the contest.
TU collected 10 hits in the game, led by two each from Tanner Watson, Wiese and Adkins.
RV Taylor (21-5, 1-0 CL) and Marian (6-13, 0-1 CL) are scheduled to square off again in Indianapolis on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 pm.
