BASEBALL HITS WAY INTO MCC TOURNAMENT

Box Score #1 | Box Score #2

Taylor University breezed past the Goshen Maple Leafs Monday about as quickly as the gusts of wind that helped six Trojan hits leave the ball park. Taking the best of three play-in series victory earns Taylor a spot in the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament. The Trojans tackled the Maple Leafs 24-8 in game one powered by 22 hits from nine batters.

After falling in an early 2-0 hole, RBI leader Michael Kraynak (56) responded with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. Four batters later Michael Nasser connected on a two-out two RBI double that propelled the Trojans to a 4-2 lead. It was a hit fest from there with Taylor not leaving an empty frame the entire game.

Matt Maple highlighted a two-run second inning with a two RBI triple. He finished the game 4-for-5 and a home run shy of the cycle.

On the mound Taylor Kinzer took care of the side in the top of the third with ten pitches tallying two strikeouts, on his way to six punch outs in his five-inning outing. Notching his sixth consecutive win, Kinzer is now a perfect 6-0 on the season.

In the bottom of the same inning Taylor batted around tallying six hits for six runs, highlighted by Nate Hillery's two-run home run to centerfield and the team's four extra-base hits.

Freshman Ryne Otis extended his hitting streak to 23 games including a grand slam in the fourth, his first of two home runs for the game, pushing his season total to six. Otis finished game one with six RBIs, but an 0-for-4 outing in game two ended the hit streak. The first baseman tallied a hit in every regular season conference game this season.

The hitting trend carried over to game two when Paul Passiales led off with the sixth home run of the day to right field to give the Trojans an early lead. Goshen answered with back-to-back long balls in the second to take a 2-1 advantage, but Taylor wasted no time regaining the lead. They recorded two more runs in the next frame sparked by Kinzer's two-out RBI double. Unfortunately, Taylor was unable to extend the one run lead any further because of three stranded base runners.

TU utilized one insurance run in the sixth inning for the 4-3 victory. Matt Kirkendale picked up the win on the mound with 2 1/3 innings of work. Strikeout leader Chris Howell (48) pitched five innings in relief to record the save with five strikeouts.

Taylor (32-16, 16-8) will next be in action when they take on Huntington in the first round of the MCC Baseball Tournament Saturday, May 2 on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University.