No. 9 Trojans Blast Four Homers in Runaway CLT Win Over Foresters

CL Champs Central 

MARION, Ind. – After falling behind 3-0 in its first game of the Crossroads League Tournament, the top-seeded, No. 9-ranked Taylor baseball team (42-8) came back and soared to a 16-4 run-rule victory over sixth-seeded Huntington (25-25) on the strength of four homers.

In fact, the Trojans hit for the "home run cycle" as a team, with a solo shot, two-run homer, three-run homer and grand slam all being recorded.

The home runs came from both unlikely sources – Fletcher Roemmich mashed his first long ball of the season while Ryan Sommer knocked his first collegiate homer – and from familiar culprits in Luke Picchiotti and Kaleb Kolpien, the latter of whom hit an opposite-field grand slam that gave TU an 11-run advantage.

While TU's lineup did substantial damage with 18 hits –half of which went for extra bases – in just six turns at the dish, starting pitcher Gabel Pentecost (12-1) made history toeing the rubber.

Pentecost's six-inning start marked the junior's 12th win of 2025, which set the single-season program record for pitching victories. The Fremont, Indiana, native allowed just two earned runs as he pitched deep into the game.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second frame, Roemmich gave Taylor a jolt with a two-run blast to left field. Then, Sommer and Mason David each singled to keep the rally going, and Kolpien and Brayden Manning both doubled to hand the Purple and Grey a 5-3 lead.

Sommer drove in the next two runs of the contest with a sacrifice fly and homer in the third and fifth innings, respectively, to put TU in the driver's seat, ahead 7-3.

Huntington had crawled back to within three, 7-4, as Pentecost walked off the mound with his six innings complete. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, though, the Trojans' lineup had other ideas than to rely on the bullpen to close out the final frames.

In that home half of the sixth, the first eight men TU sent to the plate all reached base and scored. The base paths were evacuated three batters into the onslaught on yet another dagger three-run shot by Picchiotti, and they were cleared once more on Kolpien's grand slam.

Roemmich, who totaled three hits on the day, also provided an RBI single in the sixth, and Picchiotti (in his second at-bat of the frame) capped the scoring with a hit that plated Sam Gladd.

Conner Miller pitched a perfect seventh inning to seal Taylor's path in the winner's bracket.

Of note, Kolpien's big fly tied the senior with Gladd for the team lead in homers at 15, and it put him at 202 career RBIs, fourth on the program's all-time list.

Picchiotti's homer was his ninth of the season as the outfielder tied his season-high of four RBIs.

No. 9 Taylor stays in the 2:30 p.m. time slot for Friday's CLT game hosted by Indiana Wesleyan, when the Trojans are set to play third-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene (33-18).