Five Trojans Earn First-Team All-Crossroads League Honors

Crossroads League Release | TU Honors Page

JACKSON, Mich. – The Crossroads League released its annual installment of All-League awards on Wednesday afternoon, when TU head coach Kyle Gould was crowned the Crossroads League Coach of the Year and five Trojans came home with First-Team honors.

Gould's latest Coach-of-the-Year award marks his sixth since 2010, a 14-year stretch of time in which he has led Taylor to 30-or-more wins in each full season of competition. Placing the shortened 2020 season aside, Gould has amassed 484 wins in his previous 13 seasons, which has bolstered a total of 643 total wins in his 19 seasons at the helm of the TU baseball program.

Throughout his tenure at Taylor, Gould has developed a plethora of talented performers, now boasting 76 First-Team All-Crossroads League awards after 2023's crop of honors was released on Wednesday.

Fifth-year senior TJ Bass earned First-Team honors for the second-consecutive season, after he was named the league's Player of the Year and an NAIA All-American in 2022. While Bass was recognized last season as an all-league outfielder, in 2023 he was honored as the league's top catcher.

Whether calling pitches behind the plate or tracking balls in the gap, Bass has consistently hit the ball hard while looming in the batter's box. A native of Greenwood, Indiana, Bass leads the league with 18 home runs, ranks third with 56 RBI, and boasts the league's sixth-best slugging percentage with a mark of .654.

Bass's current home-run total is the second highest in program history, trailing his own record of 23 from 2022. Throughout his five years in a Trojan uniform, Bass has hit a total of 61-career home runs, spaciously clearing the previous TU program-best by 20-career long balls. Bass has also established individual-career program records in walks, total bases, and at-bats, while sitting just six hits away from setting a new TU program record for most hits in an individual career.

Trojan sophomore Kaleb Kolpien has earned a reputation for himself among the Crossroads League as one of the league's premier hit-men, earning First-Team status in 2023 while pacing the league with 88 base knocks.

Kolpien's hit total currently sits just seven away from breaking TU's previous single-season program-best set by Nathan Targaart in 2017. Throughout his first two collegiate seasons, Kolpien has tallied 172-career hits, putting him on track to easily surpass the current TU program-record of 274 hits in an individual career.

The native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is currently one of just two players in the Crossroads League with a batting average higher than .400, as Kolpien boasts the league's top average of .429 while ranking eighth in the nation with his 88 hits for the season.

Further, not only does Kolpien lead the league in hits and batting average, but he also sits at the top of the league leaderboard with 19 doubles.

Along with Bass, fellow fifth-year senior Kade Vander Molen has often capitalized on Kolpien reaching base. En route to his First-Team All-Crossroads League selection, Vander Molen struck 12 home runs and shared the league's fifth-most RBI with 54. The Iowa native also tallied 12 doubles to help bolster a .579 slugging percentage.

For the second-straight season, Vander Molen was also honored with a Gold Glove award in recognition of his dynamic abilities on the right side of the infield. Though earning the award at first base, where he spends most of his time, Vander Molen has also played significant innings for the Trojans at second base and has flashed the leather no matter his position.

While Bass, Kolpien, and Vander Molen have energized the Trojan offensive attack, juniors Matt Dutkowski and Jack Ross have been electric off the mound, with each earning First-Team All-Crossroads League honors for the first time in their careers.

Dutkowski has posted a 6-2 record in 10 starts for the Purple-and-Grey in 2023, all the while working the league's second-best ERA with a mark of 3.36. Dutkowski also ranks among the league's top-five pitchers with 76 strikeouts alongside just 19 walks throughout 69.2 innings of work.

In his last seven starts, Dutkowski has gone a perfect 5-0 while tallying 50 strikeouts alongside just seven walks. Further, throughout that same stretch of time, Dutkowski allowed nine earned runs to craft an ERA of 1.91.

With Dutkowski earning all-league honors as a starting pitcher, Ross was recognized for his outstanding performance out of the pen. In 2023, Ross has made 22 appearances and has posted a perfect record of 5-0 while totaling the league's second-most saves with seven.

Along the way, Ross has worked a 3.38 ERA while recording 46 strikeouts at a rate of 10.35 strikeouts per nine innings. Ross's seven saves sit just one beneath the single-season program record of eight, which the TU closer would hope to match in the 2023 NAIA National Tournament Opening Rounds.

The national postseason competition is set to unfold May 15-18, when the Trojans will look to their roster's depth to catalyze a postseason run to remember. In addition to the four first-teamers mentioned above, another four Trojans came home with Second-Team All-Crossroads League awards on Wednesday.

Senior, Ben Kalbaugh, picked up the Second-Team All-Crossroads League Catcher award, while juniors, Alec Holcomb and Camden Knepp, and sophomore Mason David received second-team recognitions of their own.

Kalbaugh earned his first-career all-league award while posting Taylor's second-best batting average with a mark of .356. In 118 at-bats, Kalbaugh has belted seven home runs and drove in 41 runs alongside 25 walks drawn.

Though, Knepp is the one particularly known for his ability to draw free bases as he ranks third in the entire NAIA with 53 walks drawn in 2023. Knepp's mark this season broke his own program-record of 43 walks drawn in a single season from last year, which has helped craft the league's second-best on-base percentage of .520 thus far in 2023.

Knepp has also scored the league's fourth-most runs with 61, excelling in his role as the Trojan leadoff man.

Meanwhile, Knepp's fellow junior, Alec Holcomb, was the third TU pitcher to receive all-league status on Wednesday. Holcomb's second-team bid came in light of a 5-2 record and a 4.40 ERA, all the while recording 63 strikeouts in 59.1 innings of work.

David then served as the eighth Trojan to receive all-league recognition with his second-team honor at second base. In his sophomore season, David recorded the team's second-most hits with 62 while scoring 50 runs and driving in 46 more.

48 total awards were distributed by the Crossroads League office on Wednesday, 11 of which went to Taylor as the 2023 Regular Season champions.

With its latest championship in stow, No. 19 Taylor is set to host and compete in the 2023 NAIA National Tournament Opening Rounds slated to commence on Monday, May 15, at Winterholter Field.

Stay tuned to taylortrojans.com for more details regarding the opening rounds as they become available.