Taylor Takes Out Third Top-25 Foe of Season
COLUMBIA, Ky. – Taylor continued its early-season trend of toppling nationally-ranked opponents on Saturday with a 5-4 neutral field win over No. 22 Indiana Tech, after falling by a 2-1 margin at Lindsey Wilson in Saturday’s opener.
The Trojans struck for four runs in the bottom of the first against Indiana Tech (8-9) and added another tally in the second for a 5-0 cushion and held off the Warriors over the final seven frames for the victory.
Taylor pounded out 13 hits in the game but stranded 15 runners on the bases, with the Warriors littering the bases with 17 left on.
Wyatt Whitman, Nathan Targgart, Andrew Kennedy and Jared Adkins each had two hits for TU in the win, with Targgart scoring twice and doubling.
Tucker Waddups (2-2) worked five innings and limited Tech to one earned run to record the win, with Rob Fox registering his first save of the season by picking up the final two outs. Clay Riggins bridged the gap between Waddups and Fox, picking up four strikeouts without allowing an earned run in 3.1 innings.
TU nearly took down LWC (6-9) in the opener, holding a 1-0 lead into the eighth behind yet another impressive start from Matt Patton, but the Blue Raiders plated two runs in the bottom of the eighth and held off a Trojan threat in the ninth to steal the 2-1 decision.
Patton (4-1) took the hard-luck loss by yielding two earned runs on five hits in 7.1 innings, while fanning five and not walking a hitter.
TU scattered eight hits in the contest, leaving nine runners on the bases. Taggart and Sam Wiese each doubled in the loss, with Wiese, Tanner Watson and Tanner Kolbe all posting two hits.
Taylor (13-5) is set to host Indiana Kokomo (7-7) on Tuesday at 4:00 pm and Manchester (3-3) on Wednesday at 6:00 pm, before welcoming Oakland City (2-3) and Viterbo (2-14) for weekend doubleheaders in a busy week of action at Winterholter Field.