Gould Pockets 600th-Career Win in Trojan Sweep of Grace

Gould Pockets 600th-Career Win in Trojan Sweep of Grace

UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 24 Taylor baseball team (36-16, 26-10) completed a four-game sweep of Grace (17-33, 10-26 CL) on Saturday afternoon, a day especially noteworthy as Taylor head coach, Kyle Gould, surpassed 600-career wins.

Gould now holds a 601-332 record in his 18 years as the Trojans’ skipper, averaging over 33 wins-per-year and maintaining a .644 win-percentage in just under two decades of coaching experience.

His most-relevant wins, however, came today as Taylor navigated a fair amount of adversity en route to claiming victories in its final two games of the 2022 regular-season.

In an offensive slugfest, a game in which Taylor found itself down 11-to-eight after a six-run Lancer sixth, the Trojans pulled out a 19-11 win in game one. The two teams combined for 30 runs and 37 hits in a back-and-forth boxing match, as six lead-changes took place throughout the nine-inning affair.

Grace got on top with two in the top of the first, though Taylor answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half, thanks in large part to five walks drawn from the Lancer starting pitcher.

The Lancers returned punches in the second, though, posting three more runs on the board to snag a five-to-three lead after two.

Camden Knepp and the Trojans then fought back to tie the game at five after four innings of play, a comeback catalyzed by the sophomore’s two-run home run to left center in the third.

Conner Crawford, then, caught the home-run bug by rocketing a two-run bomb to left in the fourth, before spreading that bug to Jacob Morris, who pelted a three-run blast to left center in the sixth to give Taylor the lead once again.

The Trojan offense delivered the knockout punch in the seventh and eighth innings, scratching seven more runs into the scorebook, including five in the eighth thanks to seven hits in that inning alone.

Taylor finished game one with an absurd 23 hits and 19 runs scored. Each of the nine TU starters recorded a hit, and eight of the nine posted multiple hits.

Crawford led the way with a four-hit performance, while four other Trojans followed suit with three of their own. Meanwhile, a three-headed monster in the middle of the lineup produced 12 of the 19 Trojan runs, comprised of Morris, Knepp, and catcher, Ben Kalbaugh, who each drove in four RBI in the game-one victory.

While Grace slapped 11 runs on the board, three Trojan pitchers put forth noteworthy performances, including Matt Dutkowski who threw three-and-two-thirds scoreless-innings in relief, racking up four strikeouts and allowing just two hits.

Alec Holcomb (1-0) contributed three innings of scoreless-relief himself, picking up his first win of the season while also surrendering just two hits in tandem with three k’s. Drew Kindy, then, ended the game by posting a zero on the board in the top half of the ninth as Taylor secured a 19-11 game-one win.

Game two ended with a walk-off winner in the rain, but the path to get there was a bit rocky for the TU faithful gathered at Winterholter Field.

The Lancers struck first with two runs in the top half of the second, only to be met with a four-run Trojan bottom half of the inning, however. This time, it was a two-out three-run double to left center struck by the nation’s leader in RBI, TJ Bass.

Bass collected another five RBI throughout the day on Saturday, boosting his season-total to 84 and now easily surpassing the previous TU single-season program-record of 68.

Taylor added two more runs in the fifth to establish a six-to-two lead, though Grace refused to lie down and smacked the Trojans in the mouth with six runs in the top half of the seventh.

Hence, the home team began its final at-bat of the regular season down eight-to-six with the rain falling down, just three outs away from entering the postseason on a low note.

The TU starting pitcher, Michael Pinarski, and senior shortstop, Nick Rusche, would tell a different story though, as Pinarski tied the game at eight with a two-run double down the left-field line.

Rusche, then, stepped to the plate with the winning run on second and two outs, after which he swiftly smacked a game-winning base hit to right center to steal a 9-8 win from Grace in game two.

With Saturday’s wins, the TU baseball program has now posted 35-or-more wins in six-consecutive full seasons. Furthermore, Taylor’s 10 seniors finished their last regular-season in a Trojan uniform with a cumulative record of 122-59, equating to a .674 win-percentage.

Gould and the No. 24 Trojan senior-class will now bring their abundance of wins into the Crossroads League Tournament, hosted on the campus of Taylor University and set to commence Friday, May 6th, at 10:00 am.

Taylor (36-16, 26-10) will serve as the number-two seed in the double-elimination tournament, set to play the seven-seed Spring Arbor (24-25-1, 15-20 CL) at 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon.