2022 Upland Bracket Opening Round Preview

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UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 22 Taylor baseball team (40-16) is set to host the Upland Bracket of the 2022 National Tournament Opening Round, slated to begin on Monday, May 16th, at 12:00 pm. Winterholter Field will serve as the host site for five total teams, as the Trojans make their eighth appearance on the national stage in program-history.

Taylor first received a bid to the Opening Rounds when chosen as a host for the second time in program-history, but that bid was confirmed when the Trojans took home the 2022 Crossroads League Tournament crown on Wednesday, May 11th, entering the National Tournament as one of 16 teams in the nation with 40-or-more wins.

Taylor holds a 5-12 record in its previous six Opening Round appearances, with a win in its first National Tournament game back in 2018 before losing the following two.

The Trojans did not play any of the four teams joining Taylor in the Upland Bracket during the 2022 campaign, but they did match up with six teams that made the 46-member National Tournament Opening Rounds field of competition, including wins over Kansas Wesleyan, RV Reinhardt, RV Olivet Nazarene, and RV Mount Vernon Nazarene according to the current poll.

En route to its 40-win season, the Trojan offense has relentlessly wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers, sitting top-five in the nation with 305 total walks, top-10 with 129 doubles, and top-20 with 431 RBI.

Crossroads League Player of the Year, TJ Bass, has had a lot to do with those numbers, leading all college baseball players with 93 RBI and sitting sixth in the NAIA with 23 home runs. Meanwhile, Taylor was also the recipient of the Crossroads League Pitcher of the Year in senior ace, Luke Shively, who set a new single-season program-record with 11 wins. Shively also led the league in ERA and finished second in strikeouts behind teammate, Noah Huseman, who picked up a First-Team All-Crossroads League nod.

Senior shortstop, Nick Rusche, has served as a spark plug for the Trojan offense all season long, landing seventh in the nation with 73 runs scored by the end of the league tournament. The lefty leadoff man also struck the nation's second-most doubles with 26.

Taylor will have its work cut out for them, however, as a wave of fierce competition will soon roll into Upland, including the No. 1 team in the nation, Southeastern (51-3), who will, unsurprisingly, serve as the one-seed in the Upland Bracket.

The Fire lead all teams in the NAIA with a .371 team batting average, which has fueled them along the way to scoring the nation's most runs with 566. It's not just about hitting for the Fire, though, as the Southeastern pitching staff also boasts the nation's second-best ERA of 2.91 while maintaining an 11.85 strikeout-per-nine mark.

The 2022 Sun Tournament champions are making their seventh Opening Round appearance, holding a cumulative record of 10-6 in their previous-six. The Fire also own three previous National Tournament Opening Round titles.

The two-seed in the 2022 Upland Bracket will be No. 19 University of Northwestern Ohio (37-12), who won the WHAC regular-season and tournament championships. The Racers are making their fifth Opening Round appearance, with an 8-4 record in their previous four while holding one Opening Round title in their pocket.

Hitting their fair-share of extra-base hits, the Racers boasts a .534 team slugging percentage, which sits 17th in the nation.

Third-seeded, No. 22 Taylor, will match up with Northwestern Ohio at 3:30 pm on Monday, while the one-seed, Southeastern, will wait to play the winner of the play-in game scheduled for 12:00 pm.

That matchup will be between the fourth-seeded, Columbia (38-12), and the five seed, Bryan (27-26). The Cougars of Columbia are making their third Opening Round appearance, having earned an at-large bid for the 2022 National Tournament. The three-seed has a .307 team batting average this year, while smacking the nation's third-most triples with an absurd 27. Meanwhile, the Columbia pitching staff is fairly solid across the board, holding the 17th-lowest ERA in the nation at 4.13.

Bryan is making its seventh appearance in the Opening Round, owning a record of 8-12 in its previous six trips. The Lions will make the trip to Upland thanks to their championship run in the 2022 AAC tournament, though they travel with the bracket's lowest team batting average and ERA, .289 and 6.04 respectively. Bryan has stolen an impressive 91 bases throughout the 2022 season, though, which ranks second among teams participating in the Upland Bracket.

Competition begins Monday, May 16th, at 12:00 pm, when Columbia and Bryan square off, after which Northwestern Ohio and Taylor play at 3:30 pm. Monday's play will then conclude at 7:00 pm, when Southeastern takes on the winner of the Bryan-and-Columbia matchup.

Tuesday will follow a similar schedule to Monday, with games set for 12:00 pm, 3:30 pm, and 7:00 pm. Wednesday, then, ushers in the Opening Round semifinal game at 3:00 pm, with a possible championship game slated for 6:00 pm. Thursday will bring an end to the bracket, if needed, with a win-or-go-home championship game at 12:00 pm.

The winner of the Upland Bracket will earn an invite to the 65th-annual Avista NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, set to unfold between May 27th and June 3rd.

Tickets are available on TaylorTrojans.com/tickets, where you can buy single-day and tournament passes. Prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students ages 18-and-under for a single-day pass and $25 for all tournament passes. Children ages six-and-under will be free, and all Taylor students with a student-ID will get into all TU games at no cost.

Tickets will also be sold on-site for cash-only purchases.

For those unable to gather in-person, all games will be streamed for free on youtube.com/TaylorAthletics, and live stats will also be available throughout the Opening Round. Feel free to follow along at TaylorTrojans.com/UplandBracket22 for stats and bracket updates as the Upland Bracket Opening Round unfolds.