No. 19 Taylor Earns Opening-Round Win as Pitching Stifles RV Cumberland Bats
UPLAND, Ind. – The 2023 NAIA Baseball Opening Rounds commenced on Monday, May 15, including the five-team Upland Bracket in which the No. 19 Taylor Trojans own the second seed. As such, Taylor squared up with the three-seeded, RV Cumberland, out of the Mid-South Conference, whom the Trojans defeated by a final score of 3-2 before a capacity Winterholter-Field crowd.
Cumberland (35-14-1) and Taylor (38-15) each present an abundance of offensive firepower. The two offensive juggernauts have combined for 983 runs throughout the 2023 campaign, though just muscling five-total runs in Upland on Monday afternoon.
Even more, the full scope of the run production in Monday’s opening-round matchup came in the first two innings of play. From then on, the TU one-two punch of Matt Dutkowski and Jack Ross stifled the Cumberland bats and carried the Trojans to victory.
Taylor got on the board first after its first four men reached base with back-to-back singles followed by a hit-by-pitch and a bases-loaded walk drawn by cleanup man Kade Vander Molen. Still with bases loaded and nobody out, however, the Phoenix starting pitcher settled in and retired three-straight Taylor batters via the strikeout.
Cumberland fed on that brief momentum to snatch a 2-1 lead halfway through the second. A leadoff home run, Cumberland’s 118th for the season, evened the score at one before three-straight Phoenix batters reached base to craft the one-run lead.
Nonetheless, the lead was short lived as Taylor benefited from a leadoff home run of its own, this time coming from the electric lefthanded bat of freshman Sam Gladd. The Trojans then capitalized on three more walks and a hit-by-pitch to close the second inning with a 3-2 edge.
By the end of the game, the TU lineup tallied five walks and four hit-by-pitches, nine free bases that helped inspire a five-hit effort into a one-run victory on the NAIA Opening Round stage.
Even so, a lion’s share of the inspiration came from the dynamic right arms of Dutkowski and Ross, who combined for eight strikeouts and just two runs allowed.
Dutkowski (7-2) picked up his team-leading seventh win of the season while traversing five-and-two-thirds innings of work, scattering seven hits and three walks along the way. Ross then came on in the sixth inning with two outs and the tying run on third, at which point he calmly ended the threat with a popout to Vander Molen at first.
From there, Ross closed the door on one of the nation’s premier lineups, allowing just two hits while stranding five runners on base throughout his final three innings of work.
With an impressive defensive performance on display behind them, Dutkowski and Ross stifled the Cumberland bats all day, particularly in situations with runners on base. The Phoenix batters went a collective 3-21 with men on base, including a disheartening 0-10 showing with runners in scoring position.
Though the Phoenix lineup posted nine hits in tandem with six walks, TU’s one-touch punch of Dutkowski and Ross stranded a grand total of 13 runners on base while holding Cumberland to its second-lowest run total of the entire season.
While Dutkowski earned his team-leading seventh win, Ross garnered his eighth save of the season to match the Taylor program record for most saves in a single season.
With the win, the No. 19 Trojans (38-15) are slated play tomorrow afternoon, May 16, at 2:30 pm against the winner of Monday evening’s matchup between the top-seeded No. 4 Tennessee Wesleyan (42-9) and the four seed RV Point Park (37-15), who defeated Fisher (29-24) by a final score of 20-3 earlier Monday morning.