The RoundHouse | 3/4/2023 6:22:00 PM
By Paul Suellentrop
Payton Tolle ate breakfast burritos with his mom on Saturday and Jina, as she often does, asked him his goals for the day.
"She always says 'We're going to make goals – what are your three goals?'" Tolle said. "We always talk about the differences between setting goals and expectations. Goals you want to reach, and expectations are things you should expect to do – play hard, compete."
Tolle then produced the kind of day goal-setting moms with pitcher-hitter sons dream about in Wichita State's 17-5 win over Oakland at Eck Stadium. He struck out a career-high 10 hitters and held the Grizzlies to two hits and one run over six innings. He went 5 for 5 at the plate with a home run and double, driving in a career-high six runs.
"Tremendous day," Shocker interim coach
Loren Hibbs said. "We call it Little-Leaguing them when you hit and pitch both."
Tolle, a sophomore from Yukon, Okla., told mom he wanted to limit walks, have a high first-strike percentage and hit the ball hard three times. He walked one, needed only 85 pitches to get the win and didn't get to a three-ball count until the fourth inning. He finished all five at-bats with either a well-struck or well-placed hit.
"(Goals) help me slow everything down and not put too much pressure on myself," he said. "I can talk baseball with (mom), so it's fun."
Put it on the short list of great two-way performances for the Shockers. Darren Dreifort, of course, set the standard with his 1993 season as designated hitter and reliever and two college Player of the Year honors.
Other prominent Shockers understood the demands of hitting and pitching. Larry Groves earned All-Missouri Valley Conference as a pitcher and DH in 1978. Travis Wyckoff and Ben Thomas helped the 1996 Shockers to the College World Series with their versatility.
Damon Sublett earned 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as second baseman and closer. For a one-game performance, it's hard to top Clint McKeever's grand slam and two scoreless innings in relief to beat Oklahoma State in the 2008 NCAA regional title game.
Tolle, a sophomore from Yukon, Okla., started 12 games last season and compiled a 4-6 record with a 4.48 ERA. He also hit .317 with three home runs. He did not hit on days he pitched as coaches managed his workload as a freshman.
As a sophomore, he is ready for full-time duty.
"We've prepared him to hit on the days he's pitching and he's gotten into a pretty good routine," Hibbs said. "He's matured at a really good rate and he's a big, physical, strong kid. It's hard to do."
Tolle went 3 for 7 with a double and two runs scored in his two previous two-way games this season. He considers himself prepared for the mental and physical demands.
"It's fun," he said. "It makes the day long. I try to keep my body rested. Stay in shape. Coffee helps."
It also helps when your slider and changeup are working as they did on Saturday. Tolle spent the summer working on his slider and now considers it a helpful third pitch.
"He's a big dude, and when he gets downhill he has good angle and good life on his ball," pitching coach
Mike Pelfrey said. "His slider has really, really gotten better. That was his job this summer. He took it seriously."
Earlier this week, catcher
Mauricio Millan and Tolle concentrated on his changeup and finishing it with proper follow-through, so the pitch didn't cut out of the strike zone.
"Making sure he stayed through his changeup just a little bit longer," Millan said. "Just enough to stay on the plate. Whenever he does that, he's pretty light's out."
Light's out is right. Tolle lit it up on the mound and at the plate in a way that his two-way Shocker predecessors would admire.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
