TU Combines for Seven-Inning No-Hitter as Trojans Trounce Cougars

SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Luke Picchiotti homered twice in game one and the Taylor pitching staff combined to throw a seven-inning no-hitter in game two as the No. 9 TU baseball team (13-9, 6-2 CL) trounced Spring Arbor 13-1 and 12-2 in Monday's road doubleheader. The twin-bill sweep gave the Trojans their second consecutive series win to open the Crossroads League schedule.

TU's lineup was productive out of the gates in game one by putting up three runs in the opening frame. Brayden Manning's two-run double and a sacrifice fly from Mason David accounted for the early 3-0 lead.

After giving one run back in the bottom of the first, the game remained 3-1 until the fourth frame when Picchiotti launched a leadoff homer. Later in the inning, David brought in Camden Knepp and Kaleb Kolpien with a single before Sam Gladd put an exclamation point on the frame with a three-run homer to provide TU a 9-1 advantage.

As the lefty bats for Taylor blew the game open, right-hander Alec Holcomb closed his outing with five scoreless frames to give him a total line of six innings and four strikeouts against no walks, three hits and just the one run allowed from the first frame. Holcomb (3-2) recorded his final outs on a double-play ball as he faced just 20 batters in his season-high six innings of work.

Picchiotti knocked another home run to right field to open a three-run seventh inning that made the score 13-1, where it would stay through the final out. Picchiotti's multi-homer game marked the second such occurrence of the junior transfer's career.

Wes Hunt closed out game one with a perfect seventh inning in which no ball got past the infield.

As it had done in the first game, Taylor opened game two with a bang by spraying line drives all over the field to take a swift 7-0 lead that proved to be more than enough for its pitching staff.

Starting pitcher Matt Dutkowski took the mound for TU and was on cruise control from the first pitch. Through his first five innings, the senior allowed just three Cougars to reach – all on a hit-by-pitch – as he otherwise mowed down the SAU lineup in order and racked up six strikeouts.

Spring Arbor (6-12, 2-6 CL) drew a pair of walks to open the sixth inning, but Jack Ross got out of the frame without allowing any new baserunners to score as he preserved both the combined no-hitter and Dutkowski's status as the pitcher of record. Dutkowski (3-2) picked up his 20th career victory with the win.

Ahead 7-2 with one inning to play, TU's lineup got back to work by plating five runs to pad the lead to 12-2 with three outs to go. Ben Kennedy and Knepp were the driving forces in advancing the lead with a pair of two-RBI hits in the frame.

Sophomore Jake Boyer entered in the bottom of the seventh inning for his sixth appearance of the season, and he sent down SAU in order, topped off with a game-ending strikeout to complete the combined seven-inning no-hitter.

Knepp and David both produced five-hit days at the plate as they combined to drive in seven runs across the doubleheader. Kennedy also had a pair of multi-hit games as one of seven Trojans with multiple hits on the day.

TU is scheduled to return home to begin a series versus Grace (7-10, 1-5 CL) on Thursday, March 14, with game one set to start at 1 p.m.