![Exciting Finish Grants Trojans Day-One Sweep of Pilots](/images/2021-22/Baseball/Crawford_Bethel.jpg)
Exciting Finish Grants Trojans Day-One Sweep of Pilots
UPLAND, Ind. – On a wonderfully warm afternoon in Upland, the Taylor baseball team took two against Crossroads-foe Bethel (9-17, 3-7 CL), winning game one 12-0 before walking off with a 6-5 victory in the night cap.
Trojan pitcher, Luke Shively (6-0), was magical yet again, tossing his second-consecutive complete-game shutout in Taylor's seven-inning run-rule victory in game one. The NAIA's most-recent National Pitcher of the Week interspersed seven hits throughout seven scoreless innings of work, racking up six strikeouts along the way.
Shively has now worked his season-ERA down to 1.29, which shares the top spot in the league with Mount Vernon Nazarene pitcher, Logan Fox. Meanwhile, the Mishawaka, Indiana, native continues to lead the league with 52 strikeouts and now shares the national-lead with six wins thus far in the 2022 season.
Freshman, Kaleb Kolpien, and catcher, Ben Kalbaugh, provided much of the offensive support for Shively throughout the game, Kolpien pulling in three hits while Kalbaugh drove in a career-high five runs.
Kalbaugh's career-day began to surface early, as the junior catcher smacked a three-run home run to left field to break a scoreless tie.
Taylor, then, added a run in the fourth, before unleashing a five-run effort in the fifth. Manchester-transfer, Michael Pinarski, catalyzed the fifth-inning action with a single through the left side of the infield, after which Camden Knepp drew a walk to place two runners on base for the league's leader in runs-batted-in, TJ Bass.
Bass worked the opposite field, smacking a double down the right-field line to bring Pinarski home, setting up Kolpien for an RBI-knock to right of his own. Jacob Morris prolonged the rally with another RBI-single, before Kalbaugh put an exclamation mark on the inning with a two-run single that made it a 9-0 game heading into the sixth.
Shively remained steadfast on the bump, keeping the Pilots at bay as the Trojan bats worked a 12-run edge with a three-run sixth to take game one in seven innings.
Game two did not offer such a comfortable lead for the Trojans, who found themselves down 5-4 while preparing for their final at-bat of the game.
Noah Huseman got the nod for Taylor and scattered eight hits and four runs throughout five innings of work, accruing five strikeouts by his outing's end.
Taylor's starter exited in a tied game, after which Kolpien (1-1) came in relief to start the sixth. The freshman lefty surrendered the go-ahead run in his first inning of work but managed to work a scoreless seventh, setting up the Trojan bats to have the final say.
Bass ignited the seventh with a single up the middle, planting himself on first base where Drew Loy came on to run. Kolpien, then, pulled a single through the right side, pushing Loy to second. With two runners on and nobody out, Kade Vander Molen then enacted a sacrifice bunt that worked out ever so fortunately as Loy beat the throw to third, loading the bases while down just one.
After a fly out that set up the potential for a game-ending double play, Conner Crawford stepped into the box with the game-winning run 180 feet away. The senior native of Ohio put a charge into a Pilot pitch, driving the center fielder back to the fence where the ball passed by his mitt, ending the game with a 6-5 walk-off Trojan win, earning Kolpien the first win of his collegiate-career..
Crawford finished the game with a team-high four RBI, while Bass led the way in the hit-category with three.
Taylor now shares first place in the Crossroads League with Mount Vernon Nazarene, two games ahead of Saint Francis, Spring Arbor, and RV Indiana Wesleyan, who each share the third-spot in the league.
The Trojans (17-9, 7-3 CL) are slated to return to play on Saturday, March 19th, when they host Bethel for day-two of their four-game series with the Pilots. Stayed tuned to TaylorTrojans.com for any updates regarding the date and time for the day-two doubleheader.