Box Score AUSTIN, Texas - The St. Edwards baseball team finished their season-opening sweep of Newman with a 2-0 victory on Sunday afternoon.
St. Edward's (3-0, 3-0 HC) threw Landon Patterson (Senior, Leander, Texas) in hopes of clinching a sweep of Newman (0-6, 0-6 HC). Newman countered with Kyle Burkhardt who struggled against the Hilltopper lineup early on.
Paul McCoy (Senior, Killeen, Texas) started off the game with an infield single and moved to second on a balk. He was quickly chased home by Dylan Schuch (Senior, Austin, Texas) who scorched a liner into right center for an RBI-triple. Taylor Johnson (Sophomore, Dripping Springs, Texas) stepped to the plate to lead off the second inning. With the Hilltoppers up 1-0, Johnson launched a towering home run to right field adding to the lead, 2-0.
Defensively the Hilltoppers came up with four double plays that ended up stranding four Jet runners in scoring position. Patterson was dominant on the mound and pitched his way out of a couple major jams in the third and fifth inning.
"I felt great today and we feel good as a team," Patterson said. "We have a good team going into the season and we just have to keep it going."
Patterson would be relieved in favor of the hard-throwing right hander Tyler Harris (Junior, Houston, Texas) for the seventh inning. Harris gave up both of his hits on the afternoon in the seventh but the St. Edward's defense again came up with a huge double play to end the threat. Harris would finish off the final two inning facing the minimum six batters.
The Hilltoppers were led by Johnson who had his first home run of the 2011 campaign and Adam Shank (Junior, Sugar Land, Texas) as he went 2-for-4 with a triple and a double
. Head Baseball Coach
Rob Penders gave high praise of his team for the whole weekend. "It's early in the season, the pitchers are always going to be a little ahead of the hitters. I was very pleased to see how our pitchers and defense played this weekend." Penders said.
Patterson picked up the victory pitching six innings of shutout baseball, allowing only five hits while striking out two. Harris picked up a very impressive three-inning save as he allowed just two hits and a walk. Burkhardt took the tough luck loss as he made it through seven innings of work, giving up seven hits and two runs while striking out five Hilltoppers. Jacob Furr pitched a perfect eighth inning.
The Hilltoppers will be back in action next Saturday as they host Southern Arkansas. The double header will start at noon at Lucian-Hamilton Field.
