Crossroads League Dubs Bass Player of the Week
JACKSON, Mich. – For the second week in a row a Taylor baseball player has been named a Crossroads League athlete of the week, as TJ Bass was dubbed the league's Player of the Week on Monday, one week after Nick Crabtree was crowned the league's Pitcher of the Week.
Bass powered the Trojans to a 3-1 week that came in the wake of being named the nation's No. 21 team last Wednesday. Throughout TU's four-game set with Marian, Bass hit a cool .500 in 14 total at-bats, including three home runs and a pair of doubles. By week's end, Bass totaled seven RBI and five runs scored, consistently energizing Taylor's run production against the Knights.
After going 2-4 with a home run in game one of the series, TU's senior sensation went on to record a hit in each of the final three games, including two more long balls on day-two of the four-game set.
While bouncing from catcher to left and even centerfield, Bass was especially relentless at the dish in the second doubleheader that secured TU's seventh series-win of the 2023 Crossroads League season. Bass drove in three runs apiece in games three and four of the series, contributing half of the Trojan run production by himself.
The award marks the third CL Player-of-the-Week nod of Bass's career, which has been an illustrious one to say the least. Bass has already set individual-career Taylor program records in at-bats, home runs, runs-batted-in, walks, and total bases, while currently sitting 11 hits and 13 doubles away from establishing two more program records.
Bass will now look to build on his most-recent award and carry the No. 21 Trojans (34-12, 27-5 CL) to their eighth CL series win of the season and TU's first regular-season conference championship since 2016. In this way, the stage is set for Taylor to take on Goshen (9-33, 5-25) on the road this Thursday, April 27, at 1:00 pm.