Taylor Pitching Paves the Way Toward Series Sweep of MVNU

Pitching Paves the Way Toward Series Sweep of MVNU

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio. – On a day when the Taylor bats plated a relatively small number of runs, the RV Trojans nonetheless completed a four-game sweep of Mount Vernon Nazarene (9-11, 6-8 CL). The key ingredient in Friday’s winning recipe was the TU staff, as four Trojan pitchers combined to allow just five runs in 16 innings of play.

Dalton Swinehart and Jack Ross teamed-up in game one for a 6-3 winner, before Gabel Pentecost and Jared Crandall executed a 3-2 win in game two.

Swinehart (2-0) started on the bump for Taylor in the day’s first matchup with MVNU, an outing that ended in six innings after allowing just four hits and two runs. By the time the Trojan starter exited the game, Taylor had worked a 4-2 lead over the Cougars.

TU plated its first two runs in the fourth inning while capitalizing on a tragic, two-out Cougar error that allowed Brennan Frickel and Kade Vander Molen to score. Taylor then added two more runs in the fifth, this time without any help from the Cougar defense.

After leadoff man, Camden Knepp, singled and advanced to second on a passed ball, Trojan catcher, TJ Bass, took his turn in the box. Bass was 0-2 at that point in the game, though he offered his first hit of the day in large fashion, sending a no-doubt home run ball over the outfield fence in left.

MVNU trimmed the three-run Taylor lead to two in the bottom half of the fifth inning, thanks in large part to a pair of stolen bases pulled off by the Cougar leadoff man. Swinehart kept the lead at two, however, until the Trojan lineup added two more runs in the top half of the seventh.

The home run ball entered into effect again for TU, though this time it came from the explosive right-handed bat of Vander Molen for his seventh of the season, trailing Bass by just one for the team lead.

With a freshly crafted 6-2 lead, Ross took over for Swinehart in the bottom of the seventh inning. Ross went on to close the game, completing three innings of one-run work to secure his third save of the season and an eventual 6-3 TU win.

Pentecost (3-4) proved to be the pivotal figure for TU in its game-two win, putting six-consecutive zeroes on the board while Taylor inched a 3-0 lead. Taylor’s freshman from Fremont, Indiana, put forth his fourth-straight start allowing two or fewer runs, this time finishing his day with six-plus innings of work with two runs and six strikeouts.

The Trojan bats managed just one run through the first five innings of play, a lone run which came in the second inning thanks to an RBI-single from Luke Picchiotti that brought Brayden Manning home to score.

It was not until the sixth inning that Taylor added two insurance runs, runs that would eventually prove significant for the TU cause. A Cougar defensive mishap once again set the stage for the Trojans, as Bass reached base which then invited Frickel to enter the game as a courtesy runner.

Aggressive baserunning from the TU freshman planted him on third base with just one out, at which point Manning drove him home with a sacrifice-fly to right field.

With a somewhat more comfortable lead, Pentecost went back out for the seventh in pursuit of his first collegiate complete game. His pursuit would come up empty, however, as the Cougars struck back-to-back hits, placing men on second and third with nobody out.

It was at this point in the game that Crandall received the rock, with which he promptly struck out his first Cougar batter. A subsequent groundout and passed ball allowed his two inherited runners to score, though Crandall soon struck out his second Cougar of the inning to secure his third save of the 2023 campaign and a 3-2 TU win.

In this way, Taylor completed a four-game sweep of Mount Vernon Nazarene, winning its seventh game in a row and its fourth-straight Crossroads League series.

RV Taylor (21-9, 14-2 CL) is now primed for a momentous series with rival Huntington (18-7, 12-2 CL), which is slated to commence at home on Thursday, March 30, at 3:00 pm.