![RV Taylor Responds with a Strong Win after Falling to Grace in Game One](/images/2022-23/Baseball/Manning_SAU.jpg)
RV Taylor Responds with a Strong Win after Falling to Grace in Game One
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The RV Taylor baseball team took on Grace for a mid-week doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon, when the Trojans finished the day on a high note with a 6-0 win after falling in game one by a score of 4-1.
Junior righty, Alec Holcomb, had a large role in Taylor's flip of the switch in game two, posting a career-best outing on a number of different levels.
Holcomb (3-1) recorded the game's first 11 outs before surrendering a hit to the Lancer lineup, which served as a strong foundation for his first-career complete game shutout. TU's day-one starter added a career-high 10 strikeouts in tandem with just one walk, meanwhile allowing just three hits and one runner to reach scoring position throughout the game.
A native of Wakarusa, Indiana, Holcomb ranks among the league's best in earned-run average in 2023, allowing no more than one earned run in each of his last five outings.
On the offensive end in game two, Kaleb Kolpien and Mason David each drove in a pair of RBI, with David's final run coming on his fourth home run of the season. Kolpien, meanwhile, drove in his first run of the game in the third inning when he echoed Camden Knepp by smashing a double to deep centerfield bringing his teammate home to score.
In total, the Trojan lineup posted nine hits on the board in its game-two win, a significant boost of its total from game one.
After recording three hits in the first five at-bats of the game, scoring a run along the way, Taylor managed just one more base knock throughout the remainder of the nine-inning affair.
Between the second and eighth innings, Taylor sent 21-consecutive batters to the dish without recording a hit. It was not until Kolpien roped a double down the left-field line with two outs in the eighth inning that the Trojans recorded their fourth and final hit of the game.
By game's end, the Taylor bats scratched just one hit into the scorebook in their final 27 plate appearances, spanning from the second inning to the final out.
Freshman reliever, Wes Hunt, shined a bright spot onto an otherwise disappointing start to the day, however. Hunt completed the first scoreless outing of his young career, traversing the final three innings of game one while allowing just two hits in tandem with three strikeouts.
Kolpien finished the day with a hit in each game and a total of three between the two, which bumps his league-leading total to 40 for the season. Only four other players in the entire NAIA have recorded more hits than TU's sophomore lefthander. Kolpien has recorded a hit in 21 of Taylor's 24 total games this season, posting multiple hits in an impressive 14 of those games.
RV Taylor (15-9, 8-2 CL) and Grace (9-8, 1-5 CL) are slated to return to action and finish their four-game series tomorrow morning, Thursday, March 16, at 10:00 am.