Trojans Take Series Opener at St. Thomas, 5-3

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – No. 9 Taylor continued its perfect start to the season with Thursday's 5-3 victory in the series opener against RV St. Thomas at Paul Demie Mainieri Field. The Trojans used stellar pitching and timely hitting to knock off the Bobcats, including four dominant innings from reliever Jake Boyer, a two-run homer off the bat of Sam Gladd, and a pair of clutch hits from Jordan Malott and Ben Kennedy.

Taylor improved to 7-0 for the first time in six seasons and will look to go 8-0 for the first time in at least 20 years when the two squads reconvene for the first game of Friday's doubleheader.

Brody Fine moved to 2-0 on the season, earning the victory on the mound with five strikeouts across five innings. The right-hander allowed a pair of earned runs on seven hits and walked one batter. Fine worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, limiting the damage to two runs (one earned) while stranding a pair of runners.

Boyer took over in the sixth and was lights out once again, extending his scoreless streak to 13.1 consecutive innings to start the season. The senior hurler struck out a season-high eight batters to pick up his second save of the campaign, and the 10th of his career. The pair of Trojan pitchers stranded at least one runner in each of the final six frames.

At the plate, Taylor totaled 10 hits with seven different players producing a base knock.

Brayden Manning went 3 for 5 to lead the way and raised his batting average to .471 while hitting safely in every game. Malott went 2 for 4 with a double and pair of RBIs, while Gladd's two-run blast marked his fourth long ball and 40th of his career – one shy of tying TU Hall of Famer Ryne Otis for the second-most home runs in program history.

Luke Sutter logged his third double of the season to also hit safely in all seven games, while Fletcher Roemmich (4 games), Ben Kennedy (4 games) and Quinn Kunkel (3 games) each extended their active hitting streaks.

The Bobcats opened the scoring in the first inning for a 1-0 lead by taking advantage of a leadoff walk. The hosts pushed the runner to third base on a single to right field and eventually plated the run on a double-play ball.

Then, Taylor broke through with three runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead, before St. Thomas tied the score with a pair of runs in the fourth.

Malott roped an RBI double to tie the score at 1-1, which brought Roemmich around to score after he was moving on the full-count, two-out delivery. Two pitches later, Gladd sent a no-doubter soaring over the right-center fence to put the Trojans in front.

Fine cruised through the next two frames and struck out the side in the bottom half of the third, where he registered five strikeouts in a span of two innings.

However, the Trojans ran into trouble after the heart of the St. Thomas lineup led off with three straight singles in the fourth. This time the double-play attempt was unsuccessful after Fine induced a high chopper to third and the relay throw to first fell off the mark, which allowed the tying runs to cross and level the score at 3-3.

Taylor would respond with the go-ahead run in the next at-bat and never trailed again.

Sutter laced a one-out double to right-center on a 2-0 pitch, and Manning followed with an infield single to put runners on the corners. Malott delivered again, this time with an RBI single to left field for the go-ahead run to put Taylor ahead 4-3.

St. Thomas threatened with two aboard and one away in the fifth, until freshman catcher Peter Ensign threw out the runner at second base on a double-steal attempt. Fine buckled down and induced a pop up against the next batter to end the threat.

Boyer took over in the sixth and kept the Bobcats' bats silent for the rest of the game.

St. Thomas' Eddie Novoa connected on a two-out, pinch-hit single in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate but Boyer never flinched and struck out the final batter on three pitches.

Luis Suarez led St. Thomas with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while Erick Ballenilla posted the lone extra-base hit for the Bobcats with a double.

Starter Juan Fernandez, who was an all-conference performer last season, went 6.2 innings and struck out nine. The right-hander was saddled with the loss after surrendering four runs on eight hits. Taylor also used a big third inning in a win against Fernandez last season, nearly a year to the date (2/13/25).

First pitch in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader is slated for 3 p.m. in Miami Gardens.