No. 11 TU Closes Best Regular Season in Program History on 10-Game Winning Streak

UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 11 Taylor baseball team (41-8, 32-4 CL) set the program record for conference wins in a season and clinched its best-ever winning percentage – regardless of what happens in postseason play – by finishing off its sweep over Marian (23-26, 18-18) on Friday night. The series-closing doubleheader saw Kaleb Kolpien and Brayden Manning collect five hits apiece as the Trojans won by scores of 13-3 and 6-3 at a rainy Winterholter Field.

After starting pitcher Brody Fine struck out two Knights in the opening frame of game one, Luke Sutter delivered a two-RBI double to put the Trojans in front in the bottom of the inning.

Marian tied the game with a two-run homer in the second, but TU stormed back with a sacrifice fly from Luke Picchiotti and a run-scoring single from Ben Kennedy.

The Trojans continued to spray the ball around the diamond in the fourth inning with a double from Nate Simpson and three consecutive singles. Kolpien and Luke Sutter recorded RBIs with their base knocks to give Taylor a 6-2 advantage.

The teams traded blows to bring the score to 8-3 through five innings. Fine (5-2) effectively limited the damage, though, tossing a strong five frames with seven strikeouts against one walk.

Taylor blew the game open with an RBI single from Mason David and a pair of big swings by Fletcher Roemmich. Roemmich doubled off the left field wall in the sixth inning to drive in two runs, and he walked off the Knights via the 10-run rule with a two-RBI single to center in the seventh.

Gage Gongwer pitched two perfect innings in relief in the opener, generating three groundouts and a strikeout.

TU's lineup collected 16 hits in the seven-inning contest, with David, Sutter and Kenndy at two hits each while Kolpien, Manning and Roemmich all had a trio of base knocks.

The regular season finale was delayed roughly 40 minutes due to rain, but Taylor came out strong with a scoreless first frame from Alec Hershberger and the offense's seventh two-plus-run inning of the doubleheader.

It was a two-run homer to left from Manning that gave TU the early 2-0 edge.

Conner Miller (7-0) came on in relief and got out the Trojans out of trouble in the second inning before pitching a clean third frame as the score remained 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth.

TU caught a break in that fourth frame when a lazy fly ball to center field was lost in the twilight and dropped in for a Kennedy triple. With two outs, Roemmich singled, Chase Long walked and David tripled to hand the Trojans a 5-0 advantage.

Marian hit a three-run homer in the fifth, but Taylor pushed its lead back up to three runs on an RBI single from Rylee Singleton in the bottom of the inning.

Lane Lewis preserved the 6-3 lead with a two-inning save, good for the freshman's first of his career. Lewis allowed one hit and struck out two in his appearance, while Dalton Swinehart fanned four in two innings of middle relief.

With the regular season over, TU has crossed 40 wins for the fourth consecutive year. During that span, the Trojans have not lost a single Crossroads League series, either splitting or winning all 36 of them since the start of the 2022 season.

No. 11 Taylor enters the Crossroads League Tournament (hosted by Indiana Wesleyan) as the No. 1 seed riding high on a 10-game winning streak. Its first game will be played at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1. Stay tuned to TaylorTrojans.com for updates to the CLT bracket.