![TU Baseball Claims Crossroads League Regular Season Championship](/images/2015-16/Baseball/bb_action16_bethel_celebration1.jpg)
TU Baseball Claims Crossroads League Regular Season Championship
Game 2
Game 2
![Bethel (IN)](https://cdn.prestosports.com/action/cdn/logos/id/fu57kcu21cz13fa3.png)
![Taylor](https://cdn.prestosports.com/action/cdn/logos/id/lvc22yxyjzix7xf8.png)
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
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Game 1
Game 1
![Bethel (IN)](https://cdn.prestosports.com/action/cdn/logos/id/fu57kcu21cz13fa3.png)
![Taylor](https://cdn.prestosports.com/action/cdn/logos/id/lvc22yxyjzix7xf8.png)
Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
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Game One Box | Game Two Box | Video Highlights | Photo Gallery
UPLAND, Ind. – The Taylor University baseball team secured the 2016 Crossroads League Championship on Monday night under the lights at Winterholter Field with a walk-off, 2-1, win over Bethel in the evening's first game.
The championship marks the 20th league crown in the history of the Taylor baseball program, the ninth Crossroads League Championship and the seventh league title in head coach Kyle Gould's 12-year tenure. All seven of the titles under Gould have come in the past 11 seasons, as TU has claimed five regular season championships in the past seven years and six overall championships during the last eight seasons.
The Crossroads League Championship also secures an automatic bid into the NAIA National Tournament for the Trojans, who will be making the program's sixth trip to nationals and first since 2013.
Jake West delivered the walk-off, championship-clinching single in the bottom of the seventh to send the Trojans pouring onto the field to celebrate. The heroics from West were set up with a leadoff walk by Nathan Targgart, a single to right from Lincoln Reed and a bunt from Kevin Fahy that loaded the bases with nobody out.
West then worked the count into his favor at two balls and one strike, before roping a single past the diving third baseman to score pinch runner Nathan Shelton from third with the winning run.
The 2-1 victory was highlighted by two hits from West, including the game-winner, while Brian Moore, Sam Wiese, Targgart and Reed accounted for the other four hits in the contest. Moore and Shelton scored TU's two runs, with runs batted in from Targgart and West.
Matt Patton started the game on the hill for TU and held Bethel (18-23, 14-10 CL) to one run over 4.1 innings, before Andrew Feldman followed with two scoreless frames. Rob Fox (2-0) earned the final two outs of the seventh for the win and was aided on a picked-off base runner by Reed to end the inning.
The nightcap was also a well-pitched contest, with the two sides going into extra innings locked in a 2-2 tie. BC scored the 4-2 victory by rallying for two runs in the top of the eighth and making a diving play with the bases loaded in the bottom half to escape with the split.
West added two more hits in the game, with Moore also singling twice and stealing two bags. Tanner Watson worked three walks and added a pair of thefts.
Taylor (36-15, 18-6 CL), who is receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25 Poll, will close the regular season on Tuesday at Huntington (18-25, 13-9 CL) with a doubleheader starting at 4:30 pm. The Trojans would tie the program record for most wins in a single season with a sweep of the Foresters.