Temple College executed that strategy perfectly Wednesday afternoon in its conference-opening doubleheader, getting masterful performances from starting pitchers Paul Spinn and Lee Colon as the Leopards beat rival McLennan Community College 5-0 and 10-0 at windswept Danny Scott Sports Complex.
Spinn, a sophomore right-hander from Holland, had his no-hit bid broken up with one out in the sixth inning of a seven-inning game. He struck out only one batter but racked up 16 outs on ground balls in improving his record to 3-0.
Later, freshman left-hander Colon (4-0) locked up MCC by striking out five and allowing just four singles in six innings, then Stevie Kirks pitched the seventh before TC ended it two innings early on the 10-run rule.
“Today was about setting the tone for conference and how this is going to be,” Spinn said after the Leopards moved to 16-6 overall and 2-0 in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference. “It’s a new season.”
Aside from remarking that TC’s sweep to open conference was the ideal result, Leopards coach Craig McMurtry praised the efficient work of Spinn and Colon.
“Paul was pretty much dominant today and did just about everything he’s supposed to do,” McMurtry said. “He got a lot of ground balls and our defense made the plays.
“Lee has a quick arm and a really good curveball, and when he’s locating his breaking ball like he was today, he’s on,” McMurtry added. “You can’t just sit there and look for his fastball.”
McLennan dropped to 6-15 overall and 0-2 in the league.
After Spinn cruised through the Highlanders’ first three batters of the day, TC staked him to a comfortable lead.
MCC starter Josh Barrett got two quick outs but then walked Thad Zentek and Darren Crabtree. And Michael De La Rosa made Barrett pay for the free passes, ripping a double into right-center field for a 2-0 lead. Ryan Meade’s single into center made it 3-0.
Garrett Raburn led off the TC second with a single and scored on Zentek’s fielder’s-choice grounder for a 4-0 lead.
Using a sinking fastball as his primary weapon, Spinn stymied MCC. He faced the minimum through three innings and worked around a hit batter to lead off the third and a two-out walk in the fourth. He got two groundouts and his lone strikeout in the fifth.
Third baseman De La Rosa preserved Spinn’s no-hit bid - if only briefly - to begin the sixth, diving to his right to spear a hard-hit grounder by Steve Singleton, popping up and throwing him out.
“That was a great play,” Spinn said. “My defense helped me out a lot.”
After Zach Young (Cameron Yoe) reached on TC’s only error of the day, Scott Pollard spoiled Spinn’s no-hit quest by lining a sharp single over the head of first baseman Meade.
“It hit me about the fifth inning,” Spinn said of working on a no-hitter. “I told myself, ‘If I give one up, it’s going to be on a fastball.’”
A groundout gave MCC two runners in scoring position with two outs, but Spinn coaxed yet another grounder and raced to cover first base and retire Michael Pair.
After Temple added an insurance run in the sixth, Spinn completed his dominant game by wrapping two flyouts to left around a groundout.
“It was great to go out there and do what we did today,” he said of Temple’s pitchers. “Obviously we hit our spots.”
Added McMurtry: “Paul’s been consistently around the plate this year. Last year he had a lot of life on his fastball but he’d get hit. Now he’s getting ahead of hitters.”
So is Colon, the 5-10, 180-pound southpaw from Del Valle who paced the Leopards with four victories.
“I was throwing my curveball real well today and keeping my fastball low,” he said.
Colon struck out three in the first two innings, got three groundouts to second baseman Travis Trial in the third and escaped a jam in the fourth by picking off a stealing Brian Nephew at second, which stranded Pair at third.
Temple seized a 1-0 lead in the third on Mike Lowery’s triple and Payton Wisener’s single. Collin Janssen’s fourth-inning single drove in Meade to make it 2-0, and Wisener scored in the fourth when De La Rosa’s chopper went under the third baseman’s glove.
Back-to-back groundouts helped Colon strand a man at third in the fifth, and in the sixth he got a double play and then struck out Nephew with a fastball on the inside corner to leave another runner at third.
“I thought he would be a conference starter for us, and that’s how I convinced him to come here,” McMurtry said of Colon. “He’s stepped in and we’re depending on him.”
Temple bombarded MCC with four runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to prevail on the 10-run rule.
The Leopards’ next NTJCAC doubleheader will be against perennial title contender North Central Texas at noon Saturday in Gainesville.
