Austin Kight | Echo
The season continues to heat up for the Taylor University baseball team (18-12, 10-2). They closed a four-game sweep of conference rival Goshen College (4-19, 2-9) with 7-0 and 12-2 victories Tuesday. Over the series, the Trojans outscored the Maple Leafs 44-9 while posting a 1.011 OPS (On-base Plus Slugging).
The first game was marked by an impressive performance on the mound from senior Eric Kartman (4-3), throwing his first complete game shutout of the season. The southpaw took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth inning until Goshen's Jesse Quintanilla singled up the middle to break Kartman's streak. Kartman struck out 14 of the 23 batters he faced while only allowing one walk in his seven innings of work.
"I felt that I was consistent mixing up speeds and hitting locations," Kartman said. "It helps to throw strikes consistently because it allows me to go deeper into games. The only thing that I wish didn't happen was allowing the one hit, but things happen and our team made plays to keep us locked into the game."
Offensively, the Trojans jumped out to an early lead after the first two innings. They worked the count at the plate to bring around five runs off three hits.
Goshen held the Trojans scoreless over the next two innings until a double to left-center off the bat of junior Brent Minta, and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Kevin Fahy, put the team up 6-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Trojans tacked on another run in the sixth, propelling them to a 7-0 victory.
The momentum carried over into the second game, as Taylor scored 12 runs off 14 hits while driving in 11.
With runners in scoring position, sophomore Jake West worked a full count at the plate before pounding a ball to center field, driving in two runs and putting the Trojans on the board. The Maple Leafs responded in the bottom of the inning with one run of their own. But they could not hold the Trojans, who drove in 10 more runs over the next five innings, capping the scoring at 12-2.
Sophomore Danny Moorehead commanded the Trojans' offense, going 5-for-6 over the two games with two walks, five runs scored and a team-leading .543 slugging percentage.
"Throughout the series, I did a good job of sticking to my approach of staying in the middle of the field and swinging at good strikes in the zone," Moorehead said. "I was patient at the plate and waited to get in good hitting counts. The guys in front of me in the order have also given me a lot of opportunities to drive them in so I owe them a lot of credit."
The Trojans' doubleheader with Grace last night was cancelled due to rain, leaving TU tied atop the Crossroads League standings with Mt. Vernon Nazarene. Taylor will play again tomorrow at 1 p.m. as they host Grace.
Photography by Josh Adams
