Winterholter Field was the place to be on May 6 as the Taylor Trojans defeated the St. Francis Cougars by a score of 7-4 to win the Crossroads League Baseball Tournament.
This marks the first season since 2021 that a Crossroads League team has won both the regular season and tournament titles.
Taylor’s road to winning the double began in March as they opened conference play against the St. Francis (IN). In that four-game series, Taylor took three.
Their winning ways became par for the course as the Trojans did not lose a single series in the conference all season, sweeping five conference opponents. Taylor’s biggest conference test came against their dreaded cross-town rival, Indiana Wesleyan University.
Taylor split the four-game series with the Wildcats. During the last two games of the series on April 13, both teams’ offenses were on full display.
In game one of the doubleheader, IWU took a narrow victory 18-17. Enacting revenge after the loss, Taylor decided to put on a show in game two, whomping IWU 24-1 in seven innings.
Taylor headed into the Crossroads League Tournament as the first seed, carrying a 30-6 record in conference play.
Taylor’s first-round matchup came against the Marian Knights. Taylor won the game 11-6 with senior pitcher Matt Dutkowski earning the win and sophomore reliever Jake Boyer earning the save. Dutkowski pitched 2.2 innings and struck out two batters. Boyer entered the game in the seventh inning and slammed the door shut after sitting down four batters on strikes.
Taylor’s second game of the tournament came against the Huntington Foresters. Taylor controlled much of the game and led 4-2 heading into the top of the ninth inning, but then the unthinkable happened. Huntington scored seven straight runs to give them a 9-4 lead. Taylor did push across two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a Knepp single and an RBI from sophomore outfielder Brayden Manning, but the Foresters shut down any chance of a comeback.
With the tournament having a double-elimination format, not all was lost for the Trojans. Standing in their way through the loser’s bracket was a familiar foe. IWU had also lost a tournament game 9-7 to St. Francis, leaving a twist of fate between the rivals to determine who would move on and who would go home.
Holcomb had the start against the Wildcats and pitched superbly. He threw 5.1 innings and notched seven strikeouts. Coming in relief yet again was Boyer who had another stellar performance out of the pen with 1.2 innings pitched and three strikeouts. Dutkowski closed the game and threw 2.0 innings and earned one strikeout himself.
The bats were hot as three balls found their way over the fence. Manning and Frickel both earned themselves a home run and then freshman Luke Sutter belted a three-run bomb for his first collegiate home run to defeat the Wildcats 6-1.
Taylor’s next opponent was St. Francis. The Trojans staged a thrilling comeback, clinching a 9-8 victory to advance to the Crossroads League Tournament Championship.
But St. Francis wasn’t done. The defeat to the Trojans was their first loss, setting them up with a game against Marian. In a do-or-die game, the Cougars took home a victory 7-5, setting up a rematch against Taylor.
Both teams were held scoreless through the first three innings. Sophomore pitcher Gabel Pentecost was electric on the mound for the Trojans. Through the first four innings, he struck out eight batters and only allowed one earned run, but due to two walks and a throwing error, Taylor found themselves down 3-0.
For the Cougars, sophomore pitcher Graham Kellham was dominant in his start as well. Through his first five innings of work, he collected four strikeouts and only allowed a single run.
Trailing 4-1 in the sixth inning, the Trojans rallied against Kellham, loading the bases with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. With a host of Taylor fans rallying behind them, Frickel and Junior outfielder Luke Picchiotti each drew consecutive walks to narrow the gap to 4-3.
With Winterholter Field roaring, the Taylor offense delivered key plate appearances from both the bottom of the order that drew two walks before senior outfielder and leadoff hitter Cam Knepp hit a single, loading the bases once again. David's sacrifice fly and consecutive singles by sophomore first baseman Sam Gladd and Manning propelled the Trojans to a 6-4 lead.
Knepp's run tied him with first baseman Ryne Otis (‘12) for the program's all-time career runs record at 215, a record held for the past 12 years.
In the eighth inning, Dutkowski took over for Swinehart on the mound, shutting down the Cougars before Taylor loaded the bases for the third consecutive inning. A hit-by-pitch to Gladd added another run, extending Taylor's lead to 7-4.
Then came the top of the ninth. Junior pitcher Connor Miller entered the game looking to get the save and send the Trojan faithful home happy. The Trojan’s defense picked up two quick outs, leaving only one more to go. Senior outfielder Xavier Croxton stepped up to the plate and made contact with the very first pitch he saw. Picchiotti settled under the ball in shallow centerfield, and as he closed his glove, Trojan fans erupted.
Taylor brought home multiple Crossroads League awards to cap off their season. Head coach Kyle Gould brought home the Crossroads League Coach of the Year, Mason David earned Crossroads League Player of the Year and was Taylor’s sole member on the CL Gold Glove Team while Gabel Pentecost was awarded Crossroads League Pitcher of the Year.
Taylor also finished the year with five All-CL First Team members (Pentecost, David, junior outfielder Kaleb Kolpien, Knepp and Manning) and two Second Team members (sophomore pitcher Nick Crabtree, Gladd).
Taylor will return to the NAIA World Series Opening Round for the third straight year with their first game set to start on May 14. The road to the World Series is long, but if this team has proved one thing, it’s that they are resilient and never to be counted out, no matter the score.
