No. 18 Trojans Sweep Knights Behind Strong Starting Pitching

INDIANAPOLIS – The 18th-ranked Taylor baseball team (33-13, 26-6 CL) finished its penultimate Crossroads League series on the road against Marian (21-22, 16-16) Saturday with a pair of victories, 12-9 and 13-3, to complete the sweep.

The Trojans wasted no time loading the bases in the first of Saturday's contests, and Brayden Manning and Brennan Frickel each drove in one run to claim an early 2-0 lead for Taylor.

The score held at 2-0 until the top of the fifth when Sam Gladd hit a run-scoring double and Manning rounded the bases in the next at-bat on a triple and an error that extended the lead to 5-0.

MU got one back in the fifth frame to close Matt Dutkowski's day, though the senior was excellent as he worked the five full innings while allowing just one run and striking out five.

A tough sixth inning for Taylor saw the home team pull ahead 6-5.

The Trojan lineup swiftly one-upped Marian's with a six-run seventh frame ignited by Camden Knepp's walk and a beautifully executed bunt single by Mason David. Manning drove in a pair on a base hit before the Knights' hurlers lost their command, and Rylee Singleton later made them pay with his own two-RBI single.

Back in front 11-6, the Trojans cruised to victory with Wes Hunt tossing a season-high three innings and collecting a season-high four strikeouts as he picked up his second career save.

Conner Miller (1-0), who got TU out of trouble back in the sixth frame, needed just one-third of an inning to get the win.

Similarly to game three of the series, Taylor set the tone in the finale by taking a 5-0 advantage through two frames.

Able to manufacture one run in the first inning, the Trojans' four-spot in inning number two came courtesy of a double from Luke Picchiotti, run-scoring singles from Jacob Caruso and Gladd, and a wild pitch.

Starting pitcher Alec Holcomb (8-2) gave up one run in the third inning but surrendered no more as he was credited with his team-leading eighth victory. The steady senior racked up a season-high eight strikeouts through his 4.2 innings of work.

Already ahead 6-1 with one inning remaining, TU put up seven runs in the seventh frame to end the series sweep with an exclamation point. Manning drove in his fifth run of the day with a sacrifice fly before Frickel continued his hot streak with a three-run homer, his seventh long ball of the season, to make it 10-1. Four batters and four walks later, Micah Long capped TU's scoring by driving in two runs that made it a 12-run game.

Gage Gongwer pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless ball out of the bullpen to help the Trojans to the 13-3 win.

Knepp scored four times in Saturday's doubleheader and eight times total in the series as the senior became the second Trojan in history to eclipse 200 career runs. His 206 runs scored are second in program history behind Ryne Otis' ('12) 215 career runs.

No. 18 Taylor has a two-game cushion atop the Crossroads League standings as it enters its final regular season series versus Goshen (12-32, 7-25 CL) on April 25 and 26. First pitch Thursday at Winterholter Field is slated for 3 p.m.