No. 20 Taylor Falters on the Road at Mount Vernon Nazarene
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – Taylor saw the end of its seven-game winning streak on Saturday, as the team dropped a doubleheader to the league-leading Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars.
Game one got off to a rough start for the Trojans (23-8, 4-4 CL). Mount Vernon Nazarene (19-8, 4-1 CL) piled on six runs in the first two innings, capitalizing on four hits, two hit by pitches, two Trojan errors and one walk.
The Purple and Gold responded with one run in the third inning, as back-to-back singles put runners in scoring position to allow a sacrifice fly from Nick Rusche to score Jonathan Foster. Unfortunately, that was TU’s only run in the contest, falling by a final score of 7-1 in the first game.
Taylor struck first in game two with the three initial batters reaching base. Wyatt Whitman and TJ Bass picked up RBIs in the first inning to give TU a 2-0 lead. Coming in to score, Rusche led the Taylor offense in the second game, grabbing three hits in as many at bats.
It was all Mount Vernon after the opening frame, as the Cougars utilized their Crossroads League-best batting average of .321 to tally nine hits in the contest. With two outs in the third inning, MVNU logged four-consecutive singles to knot up the game at two apiece.
Errors crippled the Trojans in the seventh, as a pair of mishaps enabled another three runs from the Cougars. TU failed to plate another runner, as the squad fell 5-2 in game two.
Noah Huseman and Mitch Ubelhor highlighted the relief effort in game two, combining for 3.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
No. 20 Taylor will return to action on Tuesday for a single game at RV Indiana Southeast (19-8) at 3:00 pm.