Trojan Bats Stay Hot to Complete Sweep of Spring Arbor
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UPLAND, Ind. – Taylor scored eight first-inning runs and put 19 tallies on the board for the second-straight outing, while completing a series sweep of Spring Arbor with a 19-11 victory at a blustery Winterholter Field on Monday afternoon.
The game featured 30 runs on 28 hits, with seven balls leaving the yard. TU did most of that damage, slugging four home runs and scoring 19 times on 16 hits. Taylor scored in each of the first five innings to extend a streak of 12-straight innings with a run scored dating back to Saturday’s sweep of Indiana Wesleyan.
The Trojans piled up 15 runs in the opening five frames on Monday and held leads of 11-2 and 15-7, before using a four-run rally in the seventh to put away the 19-11 win.
TU opened the game with eight runs on three hits in the first inning, highlighting the rally with a grand slam off the bat of Brian Fields for his first collegiate dinger. Nathan Targgart’s 17th double of the season extended his current hitting streak to 32-straight games and pushed the lead to 11-2 in the third, before Jared Adkins lifted his Crossroads League-leading 10th home run for a 14-7 cushion in the fourth.
Spring Arbor (15-19, 8-6 CL) drew within 15-11 with a pair of two-run rallies in the sixth and seventh, but Andrew Kennedy and Fields each blasted two-run homers in the bottom of the seventh to open up the final spread of 19-11.
Fields closed his career day 4-5 at the plate with two homers, four runs scored and six runs batted in. Kennedy ended 3-5 with a home run and four RBI and Adkins finished 2-3 with a dinger, three steals, three runs scored and two RBI.
Austin Mettica and Sam Wiese also had multi-hit games, with Mettica doubling and driving in two and Wiese stealing two bags, scoring three times and driving in two of his own. Josh Lane also joined the onslaught with three runs scored.
Rob Fox (1-1) picked up his first win of the season by shutting down the Cougar bats over the final 2.2 innings. Fox allowed one hit and one walk, while hammering down the final eight outs on just 27 pitches.
Taylor (22-14, 11-4 CL) will be right back in action on Tuesday, when it plays a doubleheader at Goshen (19-7, 8-7 CL). Game one is set for a 1:00 pm start.