No. 21 Taylor Secures 2023 Crossroads League Regular-Season Championship
GOSHEN, Ind. – The No. 21 Taylor baseball team (36-12, 29-5 CL) secured its sixth Crossroads League Regular-Season Championship since 2010 on Thursday evening, when the Trojans took two on the road against Goshen, winning game one in seven innings, 15-1, before working an 11-5 win in game two.
Taylor entered action on Thursday three games ahead of second place, Indiana Wesleyan, and by sweeping the day's doubleheader at Goshen, the Trojans locked up the number-one seed in the Crossroads League Tournament along with an automatic bid to the 2023 NAIA National Tournament Opening Rounds.
TU is now set to make its second trip to the opening rounds in as many years, after the Trojans won the league tournament in 2022 to join regular-season champion, Mount Vernon Nazarene, in national postseason play.
Though 2022 was a year to remember, the Trojans are on a trajectory toward a national tournament run here again in 2023. The latest highlight along the way was Thursday's league-championship-securing sweep of Goshen, which also set a new TU program-record for most Crossroads-League wins in a single season at 29.
Taylor ace, Matt Dutkowski (6-2), mowed through the Maple Leaf lineup in game one, completing five innings of scoreless, one-hit work while racking up 10 strikeouts. Along the way, Dutkowski picked up his sixth win of the season, allowing just two baserunners while the TU lineup populated the basepaths on the other end.
10 different Trojans crossed the plate to score a run in Taylor first win of the day, including freshman shortstop, Ben Kennedy, who went 2-2 at the dish and matched a season-best with four runs-batted-in. Two of Kennedy's RBI came in the fifth inning, when TU's freshman phenom capped a four-run inning with his fourth home run of the season.
Kennedy's home run was Taylor's second of the game, arriving after senior All-American, TJ Bass, blasted his league-leading 16th home run of the season to lead off the fourth. Bass would go on to hit another home run in game two, though his effort for the day was matched by Brayden Manning, who sent two balls over the outfield fence himself in game two.
Manning now has 10 home runs for his freshman campaign, with Thursday's game two marking his first collegiate multi-home-run game.
2023 has been the year of the long ball for the TU lineup. Taylor has 78 home runs through its first 48 games, spaciously surpassing the previous program-best of 66 home runs struck in 2017. As a team, the Trojans have hit the NAIA's eighth-most home runs this season, all the while drawing the nation's third-most walks.
Taylor drew 13 walks in its game one victory over Goshen on Thursday, marking the fifth time this season that the Trojans have recorded 10-or-more walks in a game. Leadoff man Camden Knepp has led the way for much of the season, adding three walks to his NAIA-leading total of 49 this campaign. Knepp's season-total thus far has already surpassed the program record he set in 2022 with 43 walks in a single season.
While the TU offense crafted an early 8-0 lead in game two, freshman lefty, Nick Crabtree, made the second start of his collegiate career. Crabtree completed three innings of scoreless work, allowing just one hit while recording six strikeouts.
From there, the Trojan trio of Gage Gongwer, Conner Miller, and Jared Crandall closed the door, securing TU's first Crossroads League Regular-Season Title since 2016.
No. 21 Taylor (36-12, 29-5 CL) will look to build on its program-record Crossroads-League win total on Friday, April 28, when the Trojans and Maple Leafs (9-37, 5-29 CL) square off for games three and four of their series. First pitch is slated for 1:00 pm.