Trojans Roll Past Knights to Open Crossroads League Tournament
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UPLAND, Ind. – The 18th-ranked Taylor baseball team (38-13) opened its slate of games at the Crossroads League Tournament with an up-and-down, 11-6 victory over Marian (23-26) Thursday afternoon at Winterholter Field.
The Trojans turned to their ace, Gabel Pentecost, to kick things off on Thursday. Following a dominant first frame, the sophomore weathered command issues to get through four innings with three strikeouts as he left the ballgame with TU trailing, 4-2.
Taylor’s two early runs came in the third frame on a sharply pulled, two-out single from Sam Gladd, which plated two unearned after an error was committed earlier in the inning.
Down a pair in the bottom of the fourth, the Trojans took full advantage of two more costly errors to put up four runs and take a 6-4 edge. Brennan Frickel and Fletcher Roemmich came up with the only hits of the inning, though productive plate appearances were had from both the bottom and top of the order.
Matt Dutkowski, who tossed over 50 innings mainly as a starter during the season, came on in relief to protect the lead. The senior right-hander sent the Knights down in order over his first two frames, which allowed TU to expand upon its lead.
Ben Kennedy led off the sixth inning with a home run to left field, and lefty bats Camden Knepp and Gladd added sacrifice flies later in the frame that gave Taylor a 9-4 advantage.
Marian, the sixth seed in the tournament, netted a pair of hits off Dutkowski in the seventh inning and scored twice, but Jake Boyer took the ball with runners on the corners and one out, and the sophomore came through with a strikeout and fly out to preserve the three-run cushion.
The top-seeded Trojans got two more insurance runs in the eighth frame on a two-run drive to center field off the bat of Mason David, and Boyer completed his outing and picked up his fourth save of the season with a clean ninth inning.
Dutkowski (4-2) earned the win with his middle-innings work, while Boyer recorded four of the nine strikeouts for TU’s pitching staff on the day.
Gladd led all players in the game with three hits and three runs batted in. Roemmich scored a team-high three times for the Trojans in the 11-6 win.
No. 18 Taylor is slated to play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday versus the loser of Thursday evening’s contest between third-seeded Saint Francis (34-15) and fourth-seeded Huntington (29-19).