No. 19 Taylor Defeats MidAmerica Nazarene in Opening Game of 2023 World Series
LEWISTON, Idaho – Competition at the 2023 NAIA Baseball World Series commenced early on Friday morning when seventh-seeded No. 19 Taylor (41-15) defeated the 10th seed MidAmerica Nazarene (34-27) by a final score of 6-5.
Though Taylor worked an early four-run lead, tension quickly rose in the Idaho panhandle as the Pioneers answered with four runs of their own by the end of the fourth inning. Trojan relievers, Jack Ross and Gabel Pentecost, navigated the final five innings of play while allowing just one run, however, as the Trojan lineup scratched two more runs to secure the program’s first World Series win since 1969.
With the win, Taylor increased its total to 41 for the season, matching 2022’s mark and the program’s second-highest win total in program history. Ross (7-0) entered the game in the fifth inning and traversed three innings of one-run action to secure the win for the Purple-and-Grey, though the Trojan lineup had already plated four runs before Ross took the bump.
TU got on the board in the first inning thanks to a bases-loaded walk drawn by freshman left fielder, Brayden Manning. The stage was first set by TJ Bass, however, who plugged the right-center field gap en route to a double with two outs and nobody on base.
Kade Vander Molen then drew a walk before Mason David singled to left field to load the bases for Manning’s first-inning RBI.
Taylor played the yard card twice in the following frame to craft an early 4-0 lead, the first coming in the form of a leadoff blast to right from the bat of Sam Gladd. After Kaleb Kolpien was hit by a Pioneer pitch with two outs, Bass then took his spot at the dish and smashed a no-doubt home run to left for his second extra-base hit in as many innings.
Free bases and home runs have been narrative threads for the Taylor lineup all season long. Entering action on Friday, Taylor sat fifth in the nation with 305 walks drawn as a team while also boasting a program-record 85 team home runs. As such, it was only fitting for the Trojans to capitalize on four free bases with a pair of home runs in the first two innings of World Series action.
The game was long from over at that point, however, as MidAmerica Nazarene quickly answered with four runs of its own off TU starter Matt Dutkowski.
The Pioneers trimmed the Trojan lead to one with three runs in the top of the third inning, though Dutkowski worked a 6-4-3 double play with two men on base to sully the Pioneer hopes for a lead.
Nonetheless, MidAmerica Nazarene drew even at four in the fourth with a leadoff home run of its own.
With this context in mind, Ross entered the game for Dutkowski in the top of the fifth prior to completing three innings and allowing just two hits.
While Ross exercised his craft on the mound, the Taylor lineup promptly scratched two more runs into the scorebook in the bottom half of the fifth.
After Manning sent a single to right field with one out and Drew Loy came on as a pinch runner, catcher Ben Kalbaugh rocketed a double to center field, bringing Loy all the way around to put TU on top 5-4. Then with two outs and Luke Picchiotti on third, freshman Brennan Frickel offered a clutch pinch-hit RBI single through the left side of the infield to extend Taylor’s lead to two.
Even so, MidAmerica Nazarene stirred the pot with an RBI double in the top of the seventh, which soon planted the tying run 90 feet away from home with just one out. With ice in his veins though, Ross recorded back-to-back strikeouts to maintain the one-run edge and leave the Pioneers with just two chances to even the score.
Pentecost would not allow it. The freshman righty earned his third save of the season by shutting the door on MidAmerica Nazarene in the final two innings of play, allowing a leadoff single before retiring six straight batters to end the game.
After scoring six runs in Friday morning’s victory, the 2023 Taylor Trojans have established a new program record with 495 runs scored in a single season, surpassing the previous program-best of 490 runs scored in 2022.
Bass was responsible for two of Taylor’s six runs against MidAmerica Nazarene thanks to his two hits in the first two innings of play, which boosted his career hit total to 271, just three shy of the individual-career program record set by Nathan Targgart.
Meanwhile, Kolpien remains just two hits away from setting a new TU program record for most hits in a single season.
Both Bass and Kolpien will have a chance to make history against No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett (50-6), who the Trojans will take on in the second round of the 2023 NAIA Baseball World Series on Saturday, May 27, at 6:05 pm ET.