Loss Ends Taylor's 35-Game Win Streak Against IWU
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Indiana Wesleyan
|
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
|
Taylor
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
UPLAND, Ind. – Indiana Wesleyan jumped to a 4-0 lead and topped Taylor, 7-2, on Friday afternoon for its first regular season win over the Trojans on the diamond in a decade. The contest snapped a 35-game regular season winning streak for TU against its rivals, which dated back to the 2007 campaign.
Taylor could never recover from a slow start, as IWU took a 2-0 lead just four batters into the contest and pushed the margin to 4-0 in the top of the third. Taylor narrowed to within 4-2 in the sixth and threatened for more, before a diving catch ended TU's best opportunity of the day for an extended rally.
Indiana Wesleyan's pitching tandem of Jon Young and Kyle Hall were in command throughout, quieting a Taylor lineup that entered the game ranked No. 9 in the NAIA with 8.6 runs per contest. The pair ended the game with 11 strikeouts to just one walk and only allowed one earned run on six hits.
Austin Mettica picked up two of those hits to lead the Taylor lineup, while Tanner Watson collected a hit and a walk. Jared Adkins and Watson each scored a run for TU and Mettica had the lone RBI of the contest.
Colin Eggleson pitched well for the Trojans in relief, tossing three scoreless frames without allowing a hit and Rob Fox followed with another scoreless outing on the bump.
In addition to snapping TU's 35-game regular season winning streak over Indiana Wesleyan, Friday's outcome ended Taylor's stretch of 24-straight meetings without a loss to the Wildcats overall and brought an end to a streak of nine-straight regular season series sweeps against IWU.
Taylor (19-14, 8-4 CL) will look to get back in the win column when it hosts IWU (19-19, 5-7 CL) for two on Saturday, starting at 1:00 pm.