Trojans Sweep Marian on Day One of the 2022 CL Season
INDIANAPOLIS – On Friday afternoon, the Taylor baseball team opened its Crossroads League season by taking on Marian (8-8) in a nine-seven doubleheader in Indianapolis, where the Trojans came away with two wins.
In game one, Taylor posted 13 hits en route to an 8-1 victory. Game one's offensive effort marked the ninth time this season that the Trojans have recorded 10-or-more hits, with Taylor winning eight of those nine ballgames.
The freshman, Kaleb Kolpien, led the way in the hit-category yet again for the Trojans, going 4-4 from the dish and drawing a walk in his last at-bat of the game. Kolpien also drove in two runs, but TJ Bass, the league's leader in runs-batted-in, did him one better by tacking three runs on the board throughout game one.
Meanwhile, TU starting pitcher, Luke Shively (4-0), threw six-and-one-third strong innings, recording six strikeouts while allowing just one run on six hits-allowed. Shively increased his league-leading strikeout total to 34, only for that mark to be matched later in the day by teammate, Noah Huseman. Nonetheless, Shively safely secured the league-lead with his fourth win of the season.
With one on and one out in the seventh, though, Shively's day came to end, as Kolpien made the move from DH to pitcher and subsequently retired the final eight Knight batters of the game without allowing a baserunner.
The Trojan run-production in game one came throughout a three-inning stretch, extending from the third to the fifth. A three-run third frame was set up by some sloppy Marian defense, on which the Trojans quickly capitalized thanks to RBI-singles by Kolpien and senior, Conner Crawford.
Taylor, then, posted another three runs in the fourth, this time to the tune of a two-out rally that was orchestrated by Bass and Kolpien, each smacking an RBI-knock after Camden Knepp roped a two-out double.
The final two runs were added in the sixth, when Jacob Morris got the ball rolling with an opposite-field double, followed by an RBI-double by third baseman, Michael Pinarski, whom Nick Rusche swiftly brought home with an RBI-single of his own.
In game two, Taylor gained the advantage early, crafting a three-run lead before starting pitcher, Noah Huseman, even took the mound.
Senior shortstop, Nick Rusche, got the action started with a lead-off double to right-center. Knepp, then, was hit by a pitch, after which two wild pitches brought Rusche home and planted Knepp at third, where Bass scored him on a sac-fly to center. After Kolpien drew his second walk of the day, Morris tacked an additional run on the board with an RBI-double to left, making it a 3-0 game as Huseman walked out to toe the rubber.
Huseman (2-1) surrendered a run in the first, before quickly settling in and tossing six-consecutive scoreless innings en route to his second complete game of the season. The senior, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, native increased his strikeout total for the season to 34, matching Shively for the league-lead while sitting down eight Knights in his seven innings of work.
Before Husman completed the game, the Trojans added a fifth run in the top of the seventh, thanks to three walks and a Michael Pinarski hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. At that point in the game, though, Huseman was more than ready to complete the job, retiring the Knights in the seventh with no damage done.
After an 8-1 win in game one, Taylor took game two by a final score of 5-1, outscoring the Knights 13-2 on the day.
Taylor (11-6) has won three games in-a-row and seven of its last nine, now slated for two more against Marian tomorrow, March 5th, with first-pitch set for 1:00 pm ET.