Manning and Malott Receive NAIA All-American Honors
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Brayden Manning and Jordan Malott anchored the most dangerous lineup in the country all spring. On Wednesday, the two Taylor seniors were each named First-Team NAIA All-Americans by the NAIA Baseball Coaches Association All-America Committee. It's the first time in program history that two Trojans have earned First-Team honors in the same season, and a fitting end to the record-breaking 2026 campaign for the TU baseball program.
Manning and Malott become the 17th and 18th All-Americans of the Gould era, and their dual First-Team selection makes 2026 the fifth season in which TU has placed multiple players on the NAIA All-America baseball teams, joining 2025, 2022, 2017 and 2012.
The honors punctuate a campaign in which the Trojans set a program record with 56 wins, spent two months as the nation's No. 1-ranked team, and reached the national championship game for the first time in school history.
Manning spent the spring rewriting the top of TU's single-season record book. The senior outfielder led all of NAIA with 93 runs scored and ranked fourth nationally with 103 hits — both program single-season records — while his .427 average placed ninth in the country. He closed his career on a 22-game hitting streak and reached base safely in 41 consecutive games, and within Taylor's own annals his senior season checks in fourth in batting average, fifth in slugging, sixth in on-base percentage and first in total bases, to go with top-10 single-season marks in doubles, home runs and RBIs. The All-American selection followed his third straight First-Team All-Crossroads League campaign.
Manning leaves Upland as one of the most productive hitters in program history. He ranks second all-time in hits (313), RBIs (245), runs (227) and slugging percentage (.607), sits tied for second in doubles (64) and tied for third in home runs (41), and owns the seventh-best career batting average in school history at .367 — a number lifted by a .402 clip across his final two seasons.
Malott, by contrast, needed only one season in a TU uniform to leave a permanent mark. In his lone year with the Trojans, the senior led the entire NAIA with 98 RBIs — a single-season TU record — and tied for 12th nationally with 19 home runs, the third-highest single-season total in school history. His .759 slugging percentage is the second-best mark in a TU season and his .519 on-base percentage the fifth-best, numbers supported by 84 hits, 51 walks and a share of the program's top-10 single-season lists in doubles and sacrifice flies. Malott also received his third career first-team all-conference selection.
Spending all season as the clean-up hitter, Malott piled up 23 multi-hit games, including a four-hit, seven-RBI showing in TU's second victory in the NAIA Opening Round. He finished with 53 home runs, 266 RBIs and 65 doubles across a standout collegiate career.
Both Manning and Malott saved their best for the brightest stage during postseason play.
Over the final month of the season, Manning hit .459 (28-for-61) with 16 RBIs, six doubles, four home runs and nine multi-hit games, while Malott hit .410 (25-for-61) with 26 RBIs, five home runs, six doubles and a 14-game hitting streak. Their production fueled an 11-3 postseason run that delivered a Crossroads League Tournament championship and an NAIA Opening Round title — a three-game sweep that returned TU to the World Series for the second time in four years — before the top-seeded Trojans closed the year as national runners-up.
The dual First-Team honors push Taylor athletics' NAIA All-American total across all sports to 29 for the 2025-26 academic year.
Taylor Baseball NAIA All-Americans During Kyle Gould Era
2026 – Brayden Manning (First-Team)
2026 – Jordan Malott (First-Team)
2025 – Kaleb Kolpien (Second-Team)
2025 – Gabel Pentecost (Third-Team)
2024 – Mason David (Third-Team)
2023 – Jack Ross (Second-Team)
2022 – TJ Bass (First-Team)
2022 – Luke Shively (Honorable Mention)
2021 – Joe Moran (Honorable Mention)
2018 – Matt Patton (Second-Team)
2017 – Nathan Targgart (Honorable Mention)
2017 – Jared Adkins (Honorable Mention)
2016 – Lincoln Reed (Honorable Mention)
2012 – Rhett Goodmiller (Honorable Mention)
2012 – Ryne Otis (Honorable Mention)
2011 – Ryne Otis (Honorable Mention)
2010 – Michael Kraynak (Honorable Mention)
2009 – Michael Kraynak (Honorable Mention)