Payton Tolle powers Wichita State baseball to doubleheader sweep of No. 7 East Carolina
Payton Tolle has delivered a handful of impressive two-way performances in his time on the Wichita State baseball team.
But for the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Eck Stadium against No. 7-ranked East Carolina, the Shockers wanted Tolle focused solely on the challenge he was facing on the mound, so they gave him the game off in the lineup.
Tolle, the 6-foot-6 left-handed sophomore, responded with the best pitching performance of his career in Wichita State’s 7-0 win over the nationally-ranked Pirates in Saturday’s matinee with a complete-game, two-hit shutout with no walks and 10 strikeouts. He returned to the lineup for the nightcap with two RBIs in an 8-3 victory for WSU to finish off a doubleheader sweep.
WSU snapped ECU’s nine-game winning streak and improved to 23-15 overall and 7-4 in American Athletic Conference play, creating a three-way tie atop the conference standings with the Pirates (29-10, 7-4 AAC) and Houston (22-17, 7-4 AAC). The pair of wins are the highest-ranked victories for WSU since winning two in a four-game series against No. 8-ranked ECU in 2021. WSU will go for the sweep in Sunday’s 1 p.m. series finale at Eck Stadium.
It was the first nine-inning complete game performance from Tolle, who improved to 7-1 and lowered his season ERA to 3.62. The dominant performance was capped by two straight strikeouts to end the game and put the finishing touches on another gem from Tolle.
Tolle silenced one of the best hitting lineups in the country, facing only one real bout of trouble in the sixth inning when ECU put runners on first and third base with two outs. Tolle extinguished the threat with a strikeout. He proceeded to retire the next nine ECU batters in order to close out the game.
With Tolle shutting down the Pirates, WSU didn’t need much offensive support but the Shockers still managed to produce seven runs on 15 hits and hand ECU starter Trey Yesavage (6-1, 3.07 ERA) his first loss of the season.
Chuck Ingram and Garrett Pennington each blasted home runs, while Ingram finished with a team-high three hits and Pennington, Mauricio Millan, David Herring and Jack Little all finished with multi-hit games. Freshman Jaden Gustafson, a Maize graduate, delivered two RBIs.
ECU briefly led 1-0 after the top-half of the first inning in the second game, but WSU equalized in the bottom-half of the inning with a lead-off home run by Ingram. The Shockers immediately gained control again with another lead-off solo home run, this time by David Herring, in the second inning and Ingram and Rodden extended with two-out, RBI singles.
After ECU pulled within 4-3, the Shockers put the game out of reach with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sawyre Thornhill capped a perfect 4-for-4 second game at the plate with an RBI double, then scored on an RBI single by Ingram and Tolle finished off the scoring with a two-RBI single for an 8-3 lead.
WSU ace Clark Candiotti improved to 6-2 on the mound with five-plus innings of work, allowing three earned runs and striking out six. Jace Miner, who has ascended to WSU’s top bullpen arm, recorded the final 10 outs of the game without allowing a run, while WSU handed ECU starter Carter Spivey (4-2, 3.88 ERA) just his second loss of the season.
This story was originally published April 22, 2023 at 2:39 PM.
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