TROJANS SPLIT WITH COUGARS

The Trojans began the pivotal final week of Mid-Central Conference play on the road Wednesday against the University of Saint Francis. Taylor went on the road and gained a split with the Cougars, winning game one 4-2, and dropping a heartbreaker 5-4 in eight innings.

A Cougar single in the eighth inning of game two plated a run and allowed Saint Francis to stay one game ahead of Taylor as the series shifts to Upland on Thursday.

In game one Taylor trotted out sophomore ace Zach Vander Laan to curb the Saint Francis offense. The sophomore picked up his sixth win of the season, going six and a third innings. Vander Laan scattered four hits and struck out one. Michael Kraynak came on in the seventh inning to gain his seventh save of the year, striking out one of the two batters he faced.

Taylor scored four runs on nine hits. Leading the way for the Trojan bats were Paul Passiales, Kraynak and Ryne Otis. Passiales went 3-for-4, Kraynak added two hits with an RBI and Ryne Otis added another two hits.

The Trojans took over the game with two runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh. A Kraynak single started a rally and with the bases loaded, two runs came across to score. The 3-2 lead was increased as Matt Maple burned up the base paths in the seventh and scored on a Kraynak single to give all the insurance TU would need to take game one.

In a pivotal game two, the stakes were raised as the winner would take control of second place in the conference. The game matched the intensity of the situation as it went into extra innings. Taylor's offense managed to get only six hits and four runs against two Cougars pitchers.

Chris Howell pitched the complete game and scattered 10 hits. The left handed sophomore pitched well and stalled Cougar rallies in the fourth and seventh innings to keep the Trojans in it. The defense backed up their pitcher with no errors.

The normally powerful Trojan offense was held to six hits, with no Taylor batter recording multiple hits. Both St. Francis and Taylor left eight men on base in the game. The back and forth game saw four lead changes. Taylor scored in the first and fifth innings, with St. Francis scoring with two outs in the eighth to close things out 5-4.

With the split Taylor moves to 14-6 in the MCC and moves closer to the impressive 30 win plateau with 28 on the year. St. Francis raised their record to 28-17 and 15-5 in the MCC. The two teams battle again on Thursday in Upland at 1:00 pm.