Pitcher impressive as Gators (14-13) move toward All-Star break
By Jeff Malmgren
Michael Patton hit his stride just in time to look like an all-star team snub.
The Fauquier Gators pitcher threw his best game of the Valley Baseball League season Wednesday in a 1-0 win over Waynesboro. Patton (North Georgia College) held the Waynesboro Generals (13-12) to five hits and one walk over eight innings while striking out eight, improving his record to 2-1 and dropping his season ERA from 3.87 to 2.87, the eighth lowest mark in the VBL.
Patton also leads the Gators (14-13) with 31.1 innings pitched and 29 strikeouts. The VBL all-star teams were announced July 5, though, sod Patton was not one of the five Fauquier players selected.
That didn’t diminish his performance Wednesday, though. The Gators moved into second place in the North Division with a 6-7 record thanks to Patton’s latest work.
“It was awesome. He’s gotten better every time out,” Fauquier manager Paul Koch said. “We had a terrible day yesterday and we needed to rebound.”
Fauquier lost, 10-1, Tuesday, to the Covington Lumberjack, and one of Koch’s former high school players was actually responsible for the Gators’ misery.
Lumberjack pitcher Cassidy McDaniel is a 2008 Fauquier High graduate and used to pitch for Koch, who coaches the Falcons during the school year. McDaniel (Radford) pitched against the Gators on Tuesday and got his first win of the VBL season by allowing one run on four hits and one walk while striking out eight over seven innings.
“He dealt it. He looked awesome,” Koch said. “I was so impressed with him. I was very proud of him. He’s a great kid and works hard.”
Considering that strong showing, McDaniel would fit nicely on the Gators pitching staff, which has needed to be one of the best in the VBL for Fauquier to win games. Patton’s performance Wednesday at Fauquier High, for example, allowed the Gators to win despite an offense that provided only four hits...See the Friday print issue of the Fauquier Times-Democrat Weekend Edition for the complete story.