OAK CREEK, Wis. – MATC picked up a pair of much needed victories against Western Technical College during its extremely windy home doubleheader Saturday to get back to above .500% with a 9-8 overall record.

In the opening matchup, the Stormers leaned on the pitching of starter Jake Catalano, who tossed six scoreless innings in a 6-0 shutout win.

Following the shutout victory, MATC jumped out 3-0 in the first before securing a 6-2 win to complete the sweep.

"That was the goal today," Stormers head coach Caleb Bounds said of the sweep. "I thought we did it in all facets of the game today. I think we only had one error today and like five walks in 14 innings of pitching. Whenever we do those things, good things are going to happen."

Game 1: Catalano shuts down Western Tech's offense
MATC starter Jake Catalano didn't need much help offensively during the Stormers 6-0 shutout win.

The sophomore right-hander put together one of his best performances of the season, going six innings strong and allowing just two hits and zero runs with a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (6/2).

"I was able to be effective today by just throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count with my fastball," Catalano said of his strong outing. "I was able to have success and limit the walks. "That's the biggest thing for me is eliminating the walks."

After firing a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first, the Stormers took a 1-0 lead into the second following an RBI single by Marco Falletti.

Catalano then continued his dominance on the bump by not allowing a run in the second before tossing three straight 1-2-3 innings between the third and fifth innings. During this stretch, MATC managed to add an insurance run in the fourth off a passed ball before putting up a four-spot in the fifth.

The Stormers opened the fifth by loading the bases after Cole Wissen started things off with a leadoff single, which was quickly followed by a walk to Camdin Jansen and another single by Falletti. With the bases juiced, Brady Johnson secured an RBI walk, followed by back-to-back RBI sacrifice-flyouts from Robert Crawford III and Carlito Collins to make it 5-0. With Johnson on third with two outs, Ryan Quello barreled an RBI double to left field to secure the final run of the inning.

"I thought our guys looked good in that fifth inning," coach Bounds said. "The guys started finally making adjustments. We saw that pitcher a couple times through the lineup and so they knew what they were hunting."

Leading 6-0 going into the seventh, Alex Dvorak came in to relief and fired a 1-2-3 inning of his own to help complete the shutout victory in dominant fashion.

"It was good to get our first shutout win of the season," Bounds said. "That's the expectation that Catalano has every single time being out on the mound. He's been huge for us for two seasons and he set the tone for us in Game 1."

STAT BOOK (Game 1)
Lucas Hernandez and Falletti collectively led the Stormers with two singles apiece. Quello added an RBI double in three plate appearances. Jansen recorded one single, two walks and two runs scored. Collins and Johnson each chipped in one RBI and one run scored apiece. Catalano claimed the win, allowing two hits and two walks with six strikeouts over six innings. Dvorak tossed one scoreless inning of relief with a pair of punchouts.

Game 2:  Stormers jump out early and never look back
Despite being outhit 9-7, the Stormers were able to lean on an early 3-0 lead before claiming a 6-2 victory in Game 2.

"I thought we did a really good job jumping on them early," Bounds said. "And then we were able to compete, battle, and they [Western Tech] just couldn't get one across after they scored two."

Fueled by a leadoff walk to Robert Crawford III in the bottom of the first, the Stormers were able to plate three runs off an RBI single from Camdin Jansen, who later scored on a passed ball, and an RBI single from Bryant Armijo-Martin.

MATC carried its 3-0 lead into the third after its starter Max Mueller fired two scoreless innings to begin the nightcap, one of which included getting out of a second-inning jam that saw him allow runners of first and second after surrendering back-to-back singles with only one out.

"Whenever Mueller did get guys on, he came back and got a lot of groundouts," Bounds said of his starter. "I think we had a  couple of ground ball double-plays today and we recorded outs on the lead runners that allowed us to keep them from having guys in scoring position. Mueller did a really good job in those situations."

Mueller surrendered four singles in the third, one of which turned into a two-RBI single to Logan Arndt that helped his squad cut the deficit to 3-2. Luckily, Mueller bounced back by firing his third 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth.

Armijo-Martin secured a much-needed insurance run for the Stormers' offense after he absolutely crushed a homer over the left field fence to give his squad a 4-2 lead. It marked the first home run of Armijo-Martin's collegiate career.

"It hasn't been the best start to my season, but all my guys have been feeding me with confidence and telling me to just keep swinging," Armijo-Martin said of his homer. "I saw the pitch was up and I reacted to it and put a good swing on it. I just want to thank the man upstairs always for the glory and everything."

MATC scored another run in the fourth after Leonardo Zerillo doubled and later scored on a passed ball to make it 5-2. With time running out for Western Tech, the Cavaliers put together a strong fifth inning that saw themselves in a bases-loaded two-out situation on Mueller after securing a pair of singles and a drawn walk. Needing to limit any possible damage, Mueller got Aiden Hoffman to lineout to himself to get out of the inning unscathed.

Mueller's time on the rubber came to a close after five strong innings, where he allowed just two earned runs on nine hits while striking out one and walking one. He was relieved by Justin Schnell, who fired two scoreless innings with five strikeouts to help secure the four-run win.

MATC's final run came in the bottom of the sixth off an RBI single from Ethan Morehouse.

STAT BOOK (Game 2)
Armijo-Martin went 2-for-3 with a solo homer and two RBIs to lead the Stormers at the plate. Ethan Morehouse contributed two singles and one RBI. Jansen totaled one single, one RBI and a run scored. Marco Falletti and Zerillo each had doubles. Mueller earned the win, allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out one and walking one over five innings. Schnell tossed two scoreless innings of relief, giving up one hit and zero walks with five strikeouts.

UP NEXT
MATC (9-8) will host College of Lake County for a nine-inning home contest at 2 p.m. Monday.