GOSHEN, Ind. — Three players posted three-hit games, but the Goshen College baseball team left two men on and watched its comeback fall one run short Tuesday afternoon in the second game of a Crossroads League doubleheader with Taylor University, losing 13-2 and 6-5.

The Trojans (24-13, 13-4) used nine early hits to take an 8-0 lead through three innings in the opener, which was scheduled for seven. Taylor added on with five more tallies in the sixth to take a 13-0 lead before Goshen (19-19-1, 8-9) brought in runs in the sixth on a Ryan Hartig sacrifice fly and the seventh on a Preston Carr groundout.

Colin Eggleson fired five shutout innings for TU, striking out five in the process, before both runs came off the bullpen. The Trojans pounded three extra-base hits, with six two-hit games and one three-walk batting line to show for it. Five men reached pay dirt twice each with third baseman Nathan Targgart knocking in three.

Goshen's seven hits, two runs and one RBI all came from different players, with Carr the lone batter to reach base twice. Colby Malson, Anthony Todaro, James Stricker and Brandon Vires all saw mound time.

Taylor pulled ahead early in the nightcap as well, scoring once in each of the first two innings, then twice in the next two. After four innings of the nine-inning affair, the score stood at 6-1 with a Brad Stoltzfus walk and a Clinton Stroble II double in the third inning accounting for the Goshen tally.

But a succession of Maple Leaf hurlers (seven in total for the game) held the Trojans to one hit and no runs over the final five frames, paving the way for GC to come almost all the way back against the conference's second-place team.

Goshen's first strike came in the fifth inning when Stoltzfus led off with a line-drive single to center to get on base ahead of Stroble, who drove a two-run homer into the left-field parking lot to close the gap to 6-3. Ryan Hartig followed that with a checked-swing double past the bag at first, moving to third on the throwing error that let Quinlan Armstrong reach. When Connor Clemens walked, the bases were loaded with one out, but reliever Brett Lawson struck out the first two men he faced to slam the door and leave the tying run on.

Neither team could get a runner past second base for the next three and a half innings, setting the table for the bottom of the ninth with the same 6-3 score. Stoltzfus led off the inning with a single before Caschera reached on a booted ground ball to bring up the tying run.

Stroble's infield single on a dribbler down the third-base line loaded the bases, setting the stage for one run to score on a Hartig single to center and another to come in on Armstrong's sacrifice fly. With one out in the inning and the tying run at second, reliever Matt Patton froze Clemens with a back-door slider for strike three before striking out pinch-hitter Colby Malson to end the game.

Lawson took the win in relief since starting pitcher Logan Rodgers did not complete five innings. Lawson worked 3 2/3 innings and allowed one hit and two runs, all of which came in his final inning. Patton picked up the save while starter Travis Grimm took the loss for GC.

Left fielder Wyatt Whitman was the only Trojan to post two hits: catcher Tanner Watson and right fielder Josh Pfotenhauer each homered.

Stoltzfus scored three of Goshen's five runs after going 3 for 4 with a walk; he, Stroble and Hartig each finished with three hits, although the latter two men each saw at least one go for extra bases. Stroble drove in three runs with Hartig and Armstrong each adding one. Clemens walked twice, but the three-hit trio accounted for all of GC's hits.

Goshen visits Indiana Wesleyan this weekend for a three-game series, beginning with a single game at 6 p.m. Thursday and concluding with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.