Rocky Sixth Inning Leaves Taylor with its Second Loss of the Season
WADDELL, Ariz. – In its final game of the Coach Calderone Invitational, the Taylor University baseball team lost its second game in as many days. The Trojans progressively worked an 8-5 lead over Masters (5-2), until a five-run Mustang sixth inning made it a 10-8 ballgame, a score that showed on the board as the final out was made.
Taylor scored in the opening frame for the third time in four games, this time ignited by a walk drawn by Nick Rusche, who would come around to score on an RBI-double by catcher, TJ Bass. The senior catcher finished the game with two runs-batted-in, after belting a home run in the sixth inning, and now has a team-leading six runs-batted-in on the season.
The early lead would not last long, however, as Masters bounced back for two runs of its own in the bottom half of the first inning. A hit-by-pitch, walk, and a pair of singles did the damage against Trojan starting pitcher, Matt Dutkowski.
Dutkowski would end up completing three and a third innings on the mound, recording five strikeouts while allowing five runs on five hits and three batters hit by pitches.
The Trojan offense fought back in the second to even the score at two, this time capitalizing on an error as Camden Knepp singled to score freshman, Mason David. The Mustangs answered with two more in their half of the second, though, as the score read 4-2 after two innings of action.
Each team tacked on another run as the game moved into the middle innings, at which point Taylor posted four runs in the fifth. The rally was started by freshman outfielder, Kaleb Kolpien, who singled and then stole second, before Conner Crawford was hit by a pitch and Kade Vander Molen drew a walk to load the bases.
David stepped into the box for his first-career at-bat with the bases juiced and promptly cleared them all with a three-run double to give the Trojans a 6-5 lead. After a Mustang pitching change, Rusche found a gap in the defense for his first hit of the game, driving home David and making it a 7-5 game.
Taylor added another run in the top half of the sixth on Bass's home run, yet only to have a three-run lead erased by the Mustangs' five-run inning.
After freshman, Conner Miller, tossed an inning in relief of Dutkowski, an outing in which the freshman recorded his first-career strikeout while allowing one run, senior, Luke Carlson entered a fifth-inning jam and struck out two Mustang batters while runners lurked on second and third.
Josh Godfrey, then, opened the sixth inning on the bump. The junior came on to face the heart of the Mustang lineup and managed to record just one out, while allowing three base runners.
Michael Pinarski (0-1), then, toed the rubber for the second night in a row, this time with a bit more adversity than the last. The transfer from Manchester caught one Mustang batter swinging on strikes, yet the rest of his outing was peppered with base runners until senior, Drew Kindy, exited the pen to quiet the Masters' offense.
Kindy retired all seven batters he faced, recording one strikeout along the way. It was too-little-too-late, however, as the Trojans were down 10-8 when Kindy entered the game, and the final three innings for the Trojan bats were sullied by zeros.
While Taylor showed offensive firepower yet again, the game's final pop of the mitt came with the score reading 10-8, Masters over Taylor.
The Trojans (2-2) will fly home to Upland this week, before making a trip to Tennessee for a four-game series with Tennessee Southern (0-0) beginning on Friday, February 4th, at 1:00 pm.