Pentecost Goes the Distance; Kolpien Has the Distance as Trojans Dominate Cougars

UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 13 Taylor baseball team (23-4, 14-0 CL) played crisp baseball all the way around Friday afternoon at Winterholter Field, leading to wins of 15-2 and 9-2 over Mount Vernon Nazarene (19-9, 7-7).

Gabel Pentecost (7-1) set the tone for the Trojans early on, striking out four Cougars through two scoreless innings to allow the red-hot TU bats to snatch an early lead.

The Trojans ripped base hits all over the diamond in the opening frame of game one, starting with a lined Brayden Manning double that plated Mason David. Sam Gladd and Fletcher Roemmich sandwiched a two-bagger from Luke Picchiotti with base hits to drive in runs and give TU an early 4-0 advantage.

A pair of solo homers in the third and fourth innings inched MVNU closer at 4-2, but the Purple and Grey ran circles around the bases to score seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to grab a commanding 11-2 edge.

Ben Kennedy and David recorded RBIs with singles early in that fourth inning, while Luke Sutter and Picchiotti capped the inning with a triple and double, respectively.

The offense maintained strong production with a two-run homer by Kaleb Kolpien in the fifth inning and a pair of runs in the sixth to allow Pentecost the chance to finish the job early with a run-rule victory in sight.

Pentecost breezed through the final frames, striking out the side in the fifth inning and ending the Cougars' hopes with a pair of strikeouts to close the game. He logged the Trojans' first complete game of the season, going an efficient seven innings with a career-high 14 strikeouts and two hits allowed – just the two solo shots.

Picchiotti collected three hits in the series opener, while Ryan Sommer notched two hits and threw out a runner attempting to steal – his eighth runner-caught-stealing of the season.

In game two, TU got more of the same from its starting pitcher as Brody Fine (3-0) carved up the Cougar lineup to the tune of five zeroes to begin the contest.

Taylor again took advantage, catapulted by a 4-for-4 game from Kolpien that included two homers and four RBIs.

Singles from Picchiotti and Roemmich put the Trojans ahead 5-0 in the third inning, and Gladd sent a ball soaring 100 feet past the confines of Winterholter's right-center field fence in the fourth to make it 7-0. The homer marked the 13th of the season for Gladd.

The Cougars hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning before a double gave them a runner at second with nobody out, but Conner Miller extinguished the threat by inducing three straight groundballs to Kennedy. Miller then struck out a pair in the seventh to close with two perfect innings out of the bullpen.

Fine went five-plus and struck out seven as he continued his other-worldly strikeout rate of nearly 13 per nine innings pitched on the season.

At the dish, David and Sutter had three hits apiece in the nightcap to complement Kolpien's four-hit game.

Kolpien's three-homer day gave him a double-digit home run total (10) on the season for the first time in his career, and it brought that career mark to 22. The senior is also closing in on the program's all-time career hits mark of 280 (TJ Bass '23), as Kolpien sits at 274 base knocks, tied-second most in the program.

The Trojans' doubleheader sweep continues their winning streak of 18 games, the second-longest active streak in the NAIA. Notably, TU has also won 23 consecutive regular season games within the Crossroads League after having piled on nine straight CL victories to close the 2024 regular season.

No. 13 Taylor eyes its 20th victory in a row when it closes the series Saturday at Winterholter Field beginning at 1 p.m.