No. 1 Taylor Blasts Six Home Runs, Sweeps Saint Francis in Doubleheader

UPLAND, Ind. – For the first time in program history, Taylor baseball owns the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA. On Thursday, the Trojans looked every bit the part.

No. 1 TU erupted for 28 runs on 29 hits across a Crossroads League doubleheader sweep of Saint Francis, winning the opener 15-2 in seven innings before taking the nightcap 13-4. The Trojans (32-3, 20-2 CL) have now won 14 consecutive games and scored in double figures for the 21st time this season. TU's 369 runs (11.2 per game) rank third in the NAIA.

Sam Gladd set the tone in the opener with a 4 for 4 afternoon that included his fifth home run of the season, a three-run, opposite-field shot to left in the fourth inning. It was the third four-hit game of Gladd's career. The blast moved Gladd into a second-place tie on TU's all-time career home run list with 41. He finished with a season-high-tying five RBIs.

He was far from the only Trojan doing damage as Jordan Malott launched a three-run shot in a five-run first inning, Jace Schrock crushed a pinch-hit three-run homer 450 feet to left in the sixth, and Fletcher Roemmich went deep to left as part of a six-run frame that ended the game via the 10-run rule.

On the mound, Brody Fine improved to 7-0 with five scoreless innings, scattering just one hit while striking out seven. Fine's seven wins lead the Crossroads League, as do his 67 strikeouts and 1.89 ERA.

Fine walked four but worked around every jam, retiring the side in order in the third and keeping Saint Francis (12-22, 10-12 CL) off the board through five. Hunter Doran and Blake Osbourne finished the final two innings.

Ben Kennedy added three hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in two. TU finished the opener with 14 hits and left 10 runners on base.

The nightcap was more of the same. TU jumped on Cougars starter Curtis Ellis for four runs in the first inning, highlighted by Malott's run-scoring single through the left side on a 10-pitch at-bat and a two-run single from Quinn Kunkel. Roemmich then opened the second with an inside-the-park home run to center field, and a Brennan Frickel RBI double and Schrock's two-run pinch-hit single pushed the lead to 8-1.

Malott provided the knockout blow in the fourth. After Luke Sutter and Brayden Manning delivered consecutive RBI singles to make it 10-2, Malott launched a three-run homer to center — a 470-foot blast off the bat at 103 mph — to blow the game open at 13-2. Sutter finished the nightcap 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, giving him a team-high 19 multi-hit games this season, while Manning went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a walk. TU collected 15 hits in the nightcap and left nine on base.

Malott finished the nightcap 2 for 2 with four RBIs and two walks, giving him seven RBIs across the two games. Across the doubleheader, he went 4 for 5 with two home runs, seven RBIs and four walks. The senior has 45 career home runs and his 11 deep flies in his first season as a Trojan are tied for the Crossroads League lead. Malott has homered in three of his last four games with 13 RBIs in that stretch, and he now ranks fourth nationally in RBIs.

Schrock continued to make an impact off the bench, going 2 for 2 with five RBIs as a pinch hitter on the day. Kennedy reached base in seven of his eight plate appearances across both games, collecting five hits.

Frickel and Manning, the top two hitters in the Crossroads League in batting average, each extended hitting streaks to 14 consecutive games.

Jake Boyer earned the win in the nightcap to improve to 5-1, firing two hitless innings with five strikeouts after Wes Hunt and Gage Gongwer combined for five innings of work. The Trojan pitching staff racked up 16 strikeouts in the nightcap, one shy of the season-high 17 set against Nelson. TU now ranks second in the NAIA in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.25.

Saint Francis got solo home runs from Ayden Lichtensteiger, Ashten Tuttle and Zavier Edgar in the nightcap, while Tuttle also homered in the seventh inning of the opener.

TU and Saint Francis will complete the four-game series Saturday with another doubleheader at Winterholter Field.