Trojans Rally Past SAU in CL Tournament Opener
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MARION, Ind. – Taylor’s quest for a fifth Crossroads League Tournament Championship under head coach Kyle Gould began on a strong note Friday with an 8-2 victory over Spring Arbor for the second-seeded Trojans.
It took a while for TU to get on track however, as the first 11 Trojan batters were retired in order and Taylor’s first hit did not come until Spring Arbor had jumped to a 2-0 lead.
A TJ Bass single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth ended the early drought but TU did not crack the scoring column until the next inning after Kade Vander Molen, Camden Knepp and Brett Lawson all reached safely to open the frame. Run-scoring knocks off the bats of Matt Dutkowski and Ben Kalbaugh helped fuel a three-run outburst and an unearned score in the sixth pushed TU’s lead to 4-2.
Bass struck again in the seventh with a two-run home run to highlight a four-run Taylor rally that broke the game open at 8-2.
Joe Moran, Garrett Simmons and Tucker Waddups had no trouble making the lead hold, with Moran working into the sixth and improving to 9-3 on the season by claiming the win on the mound. Simmons and Waddups followed out of the bullpen to hold SAU to just one hit and no runs over the final 3.2 innings.
Bass led the offense with three hits, two runs, two RBI and his eighth dinger of the year. Kalbaugh also collected two hits for the Trojans.
RV Taylor (36-18) will now turn its focus toward a 1:00 pm game on Saturday against third-seeded Huntington (32-14).