Dynamic Combination of Bats and Arms Results in TU Sweep of Bethel
UPLAND, Ind. – Strong batting in game one followed by stellar pitching in game two paved the way for RV Taylor (25-11, 18-4 CL) to sweep Thursday's doubleheader with Bethel (13-21, 6-16 CL), winning the day game by a score of 14-1 before a 2-0 win in the night cap.
The Taylor bats benefited from five Pilot errors in game one, tacking on 10 hits and eight walks en route to the Trojans' latest 10-plus-run performance. TU has now posted multi-digit marks in the run column on 15 separate occasions in 2023, with Thursday's final four runs coming on Kade Vander Molen (SR/Pella, IA)'s 11th home run of the season, a grand slam to right-center field in the fifth inning.
Alec Holcomb (JR/Wakarusa, IN) (5-1) served as the beneficiary of Taylor's spacious run support, claiming his fifth win of the season while navigating five innings and allowing just one unearned run. Holcomb scattered four hits while racking up nine strikeouts in his five innings of work.
From there freshman duo, Nick Crabtree (FR/Muncie, IN) and Wes Hunt (FR/Germantown Hills, IL), closed the game, each posting a zero on the scoreboard in one full inning of work. Crabtree sat two Pilots down via the strikeout, while Hunt did not allow a baserunner.
Six other Trojans recorded a hit in game one besides Vander Molen, including sophomore second baseman, Mason David (SO/Bloomington, IN), who led the way with three hits, an RBI and two runs scored. Leadoff man, Camden Knepp (JR/Goshen, IN), meanwhile added two hits of his own, alongside one walk and two runs.
It was a slow start for the Trojan bats, however, as the score read 1-1 after three and a half innings of play. That all changed in a big way when the Trojans took their bat in the bottom of the fourth, a frame in which Taylor sent 13 batters to the plate.
The eight-run rally was sparked by a line drive struck by David right past the pitcher's head into the centerfield. Next Ben Kalbaugh (SR/Fort Lauderdale, FL) walked and freshman, Brennan Frickel (FR/Driftwood, TX), executed a well-placed bunt down the third-base line, which forced a Pilot error that brought David around to score.
Frickel then stole second before Luke Picchiotti (SO/Arlington Heights, IL) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Trojans then ripped off three-consecutive singles from Ben Kennedy (FR/Evansville, IN), Knepp, and Kaleb Kolpien (SO/Fort Wayne, IN). Bethel then fed the rally even more with its second error of the inning, before David recorded his second hit of the inning and Kalbaugh drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
After four innings of play Taylor had opened a 9-1 lead, an advantage which only blossomed from there, thanks in large part to Vander Molen's grand slam in the following frame.
With its game-one, run-rule victory in stow, Taylor then took game two behind the strong right arm of Matt Dutkowski (JR/Nappanee, IN) (4-2), who traversed five-and-one-third innings of work without allowing a run.
Dutkowski surrendered just five hits alongside seven strikeouts and just one walk. The Bethel starter answered with a strong outing of his own, however, limiting an explosive Trojan offense to just one run through five innings of work.
The one run came in a mighty way, though, thanks to Luke Picchiotti's fifth home run of the season, which came in the bottom of the third inning.
The Trojans added an insurance run in the sixth inning, when Vander Molen singled and moved up two bases on an errant pickoff attempt. David managed to bring his teammate home to score, as Vander Molen, in a gutsy move, beat a throw home from the Pilot third baseman.
Jack Ross (JR/West Lafayette, IN) entered the game for TU on the mound with one out and one on in the sixth inning, before securing the win for Dutkowski by recording his fourth save of the 2023 campaign.
Ross allowed just one hit in tandem with three strikeouts in his one-and-two-thirds innings of work, eventually closing the door on Taylor's second win of the day, a 2-0 pitcher's duel over Bethel.
RV Taylor and Bethel are slated to return to action at Winterholter Field on Monday, April 10, with first pitch set for 1:00 pm.