May 20, 2026
No. 1 Taylor Prepares for 2026 Avista NAIA World Series
LEWISTON, Idaho – No. 1 Taylor (52-5) returns to the Avista NAIA World Series for the second time in four seasons as this year's event kicks off this week at Harris Field, located on the campus of Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. All games during the 69th annual baseball national championship can be viewed for free on Urban Edge Network.
The Trojans, who are the No. 1 overall seed in the 10-team double-elimination bracket, will take the field for Game 2 Friday at 11:30 a.m. PT (2:30 p.m. ET) against the No. 10 seed and 19th-ranked William Carey (38-18).
The World Series appearance is the third in TU program history (1969 and 2023), and the second trip to Lewiston under head coach Kyle Gould and the senior nucleus consisting of nine Trojans that helped shape the program's recent four-year run of championship success. During that span, TU has a combined record of 183-49 (.789) with four straight regular-season Crossroads League championships and three consecutive CL tournament titles. The group of veteran Trojans form the core of this year's historic season and return to Harris Field with a chance to finish what they started.
TU reached Lewiston by sweeping the Upland Bracket as host last week, one of nine Opening Round champions to advance with an unbeaten 3-0 mark. Southeastern was the lone exception, finishing 4-1 to claim its bracket. The last time out, the Trojans set the Opening Round single-game program record with 22 runs in the title game, and 20 hits were the program's most in any NAIA national tournament contest. TU's combined three-game offensive output included 47 runs, 47 hits and 12 home runs during its tear through the Opening Round.
The 2026 campaign has been one of sheer dominance for the Trojans. TU has held the No. 1 spot in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll since April 1 and set program records for single-season wins (52), home runs (98) and runs scored (645), among various other metrics. The Purple & Gray enter the World Series as the lone 50-win team.
Statistically, the Trojan offense leads the group of World Series teams in slugging percentage (.630), on-base percentage (.476), runs per game (11.7), hits (652), home runs (98) and extra-base hits (245). A mere one-thousandth of a decimal point separates TU (.356) and Georgia Gwinnett (.357) in team batting average.
The TU lineup has proved lethal for opposing pitchers, especially of late with steady production from numerous hitters, including a late-season surge from Brayden Manning and Jordan Malott.
Manning is riding an active 16-game hitting streak and has reached safely in 35 consecutive outings. The senior is ranked fifth nationally in hits (94), seventh in batting average (.435) and 10th in runs-batted in, while needing five base knocks to break the TU single-season record. He also leads a trio of Trojans leading the NAIA in most runs scored (86), along with Luke Sutter (84) and Fletcher Roemmich (81).
Malott, who leads the nation in runs-batted in (92), needs three more RBIs to break the TU single-season record. In his first year as a Trojan, the senior has been a steady force in the clean-up spot behind Manning. Malott is the team leader in OPS (1.313) and home runs (18 – third in TU single-season history). He's turned up his game during postseason play, going 16-for-35 (.457) during the recent stretch with 20 RBIs and four home runs.
Elsewhere, fellow seniors Sam Gladd and Ben Kennedy have found their groove at the plate during the postseason and will look to continue their production in Lewiston. Kennedy has homered in three of the past four games with 11 RBIs, while Gladd homered in back-to-back games in the first two wins of the Opening Round, finishing with seven RBIs. The senior designated hitter will be glad to arrive at Harris Field, where he homered four times in the first three games during TU's previous World Series appearance.
On the mound, the Trojans rank second among the World Series qualifiers in strikeouts-per-nine innings (10.43), tied for fourth in WHIP (1.40) and sixth in team earned-run average (4.39). Seniors Wes Hunt, Nick Crabtree, Jake Boyer and Gage Gongwer will each make a second World Series appearance to lead the stable of arms.
The 10-team field at Harris Field assembles Opening Round champions from across the country. Georgia Gwinnett is the No. 2 seed and host Lewis-Clark State the No. 3 seed. Doane holds the No. 4 seed, Southeastern No. 5, Johnson No. 6 and MACU No. 7. Tennessee Wesleyan slots in at No. 8 and in-state foe IU Southeast at No. 9 ahead of William Carey.
TU has its sight set on Friday's opening contest against William Carey, who advanced to the World Series in stunning fashion by sweeping the Opening Round Williamsburg (KY) Bracket as the No. 3 seed. The Crusaders overcame deficits of at least three runs in each win, including a remarkable late comeback in the championship game over Cumberlands, rallying from a 10-2 deficit in the eighth inning by scoring eight runs with two outs.
The Crusaders finished second in the Southern States Athletic Conference, three games behind Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), who TU hosted last week in the Opening Round Upland Bracket. William Carey's Matthew Davis was named the SSAC Pitcher of the Year, and he was joined on the first-team all-conference list by the team's top hitters in senior catcher Jayden Mark (.346, 53 RBIs) and senior outfielder DeeJay Booth (.368, 11 HR, 61 RBIs).
TU and William Carey met for the first and only time near the beginning of TU's 2023 World Series qualifying campaign, with the Crusaders taking the lone matchup 12-3, which came in the second game of a doubleheader played in Georgia after the Trojans had already knocked off No. 18 IU Southeast earlier in the day. The teams have overlapping history though, with the only national title in Crusader baseball history recorded at the 1969 championship that featured Taylor's first World Series appearance.
The Trojans have never played three of the teams in this year's World Series -- Doane, MACU and Johnson -- with very few matchups in series history against the rest of the field. The pool of teams in Lewiston this week features a school that was either the national champion or runner-up at the previous 12 World Series events.
The five first-round games span Friday and Saturday. Doane and MACU open the tournament at 8:30 a.m. PT Friday, followed by Taylor-William Carey at 11:30 a.m., Georgia Gwinnett-IU Southeast at 3 p.m. and Lewis-Clark State-Tennessee Wesleyan at 7 p.m. The Southeastern-Johnson matchup wraps the opening slate Saturday at 11 a.m. PT. Should the Trojans win their opener, they would advance to a winner's-bracket game at 3 p.m. PT Monday against the Doane-MACU winner; a loss would drop them into a 3 p.m. Saturday elimination contest.
The double-elimination format runs through Saturday, May 30, with the championship round set for 6:30 p.m. PT Friday, May 29, and an if-necessary winner-take-all final at the same time the following evening. Harris Field has hosted the Avista NAIA World Series annually since 2000.