Coal City Blanks Manteno Behind Hutchings' No-No

COAL CITY - Sophomore LHP Payton Hutchings put together another dominant performance for the Coalers (11-3) on Friday in a 3-0 win over Interstate 8 foe Manteno (9-1). Hutchings, an Illinois commit, tossed a no-hitter to blank the Panthers, striking out 16 along the way. A pair of walks were the only thing standing in the way of Hutchings second perfect game in three starts.

For many, this would be a signature outing to highlight your season around, for Hutchings, this just seems like another day at the yard. Earlier this season the sophomore southpaw earned PBR Player of the Week honors for pitching perfection in a win over Beecher. In that outing Hutchings completed a true perfect game, striking out all 21 batters he faced.

To say Hutchings recent numbers have been video game-esque may be an understatement. In his last three starts he’s pitched 19 innings allowing just five hits and striking out a whopping 44 batters. That’s only 13 hitters who he has not retired via the strikeout in three games.

I’ll save the nitty gritty on Hutchings’ recent outing for the Illinois Scout Blog, but let's just say he had filthy stuff on Friday that included a swing and miss running fastball and a big breaking curveball that he rarely needed. On the offensive side of the ball, fellow sophomore Austin Pullara got plunked with the bases loaded after back to back singles from Blake Harseim and Brendan Nevin. Nevin went 2-for-3 on the day.

The Coalers then tacked on two more insurance runs in the sixth after back to back RBI doubles from Sean Micetich and Hutchings. For Hutchings it was his second double of the day in four at bats.

Coal City moves to 11-3 on the year and 3-0 in conference play while Manteno suffers their first loss of the season, falling to 9-1, 2-1 in the Interstate 8.

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