Trojans Get Back on Track with Sweep of IWU
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UPLAND, Ind. – One day after having its 35-game regular season win streak against Indiana Wesleyan snapped, Taylor blasted seven home runs and put 24 runs on the board with 26 hits to bounce back with 5-4 and 19-9 victories on a beautiful afternoon in Upland.
The day started on a walk-off thriller, with Tanner Watson belting a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to give TU a 5-4 win in the opener, before Taylor blasted five home runs and bludgeoned a parade of seven IWU hurlers for 19 runs on 16 hits in a 19-9 run-ruled nightcap.
The Trojans built a 3-0 lead in Saturday’s opener behind a strong start on the bump from Matt Patton. Josh Lane opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second and doubled and scored in the fifth, before Nathan Targgart’s home run pushed the gap to 3-0.
Indiana Wesleyan (19-21, 5-9 CL) got to the TU bullpen for four runs in the sixth but Jared Adkins opened the bottom of the seventh with a bloop double and Watson launched a towering blast into the pine trees beyond the center field fence to send Taylor off with a 5-4 win.
Patton did not earn a decision in the contest but held IWU scoreless in five innings of work. The righty fanned nine batters and yielded only three hits and one walk before exiting the contest.
The Taylor lineup carried the momentum into the second game and scored in each of its six innings to end the contest early. TU countered a three-run first from the guests with three of its own and went on to build a 9-3 cushion. The offense answered a four-run rally from IWU in the fifth with seven runs in the bottom half and added three more in the sixth to open up the 10-run gap.
Wyatt Whitman blasted a pair of three-run homers and Andrew Kennedy laced his first collegiate homer in the rout. Austin Mettica doubled twice and homered, while Targgart stayed hot with a dinger and a double. In all, seven Trojans scored at least two runs, while five had multi-hit games and five drove in at least two runs in the outburst.
Taylor (21-14, 10-4 CL) will return to action on Monday, when it welcomes Spring Arbor (15-18, 8-5 CL) to Winterholter Field for a single game beginning at 1:00 pm. The game will be streamed live on the Trojan Sports Network but will not have audio.