UPLAND, Ind. — Evan Creager led the Goshen College baseball team with three hits in the opening doubleheader of its conference schedule Thursday afternoon, but the Maple Leafs dropped a pair of decisions to Taylor University by 12-1 and 8-3 margins at Winterholter Field on the TU campus.
Creager had two hits in the opener and one more in the second game, scoring a run in each contest. Reece Willis, Nate Lange, Peyton Smith and Austin Bontrager all drove in runs.
Taylor (13-6, 2-0) got a four-hit day from Brett Lawson, who finished a homer away from an ersatz cycle across the two games. Conner Crawford tripled and homered in a three-hit day and Kade Vander Molen added a double and a homer.
Joe Moran took the win for the Trojans in the opener, striking out 9 with a run on 4 hits in 6 innings before handing off to Drew Henrikson to strike out the side in the seventh. The first game was called after seven innings because of the run rule.
Noah Huseman came an out short of a quality start in the second game, which is scheduled for 7 innings. He went 5 2/3 innings with 3 runs and 5 hits against 10 strikeouts but left with the tying run coming to bat. Tucker Waddups retired four of the six men he faced for the save.
Eric Pettipiece worked 3 1/3 innings of relief for the Maple Leafs (0-5, 0-2) in the first game, inheriting a double-digit deficit and giving up two hits on 48 pitches to keep his team in the game. Toby Fox finished the second game with one earned run and one unearned in an inning of work after Keegan Kwong bridged the gap to him.
The Trojans did all their scoring in a pair of big innings in game one. In the second inning, Crawford led off with a triple before scoring on a groundout. A walk, two singles, and a fielding error later, it was 4-0. Vander Molen did the bulk of the damage with a two-run single.
The third inning was twice as bad numerically, involving a T.J. Bass grand slam and a two-run shot from Crawford. Lawson had the other RBI base hit.
Goshen got its run in the top of the third as Creager led off with a single and moved up 90 feet at a time. Gabe Kermode got a hit in the process and Willis knocked in the run on a fielder's choice.
In the second, TU started the scoring in the first inning with a Rusche walk and a Vander Molen two-run homer before the first out. A walk and two singles made it 3-0 before Vander Molen drove in the fourth run with a second-inning double.
Matt Dutkowski chipped in an RBI fielder's choice in the fifth inning and scored on a Ben Kalbaugh single to make it 6-0.
The Maple Leafs had one of their best chances of the season in the top of the sixth. Reese Whelen and Morgan Baker started the inning with singles; after a pair of outs, Lange, Smith and Bontrager all poked run-scoring hits in succession. That brought Bobby Garcia to the plate as the tying run, but Huseman struck him out.
Taylor added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error and a Vander Molen sacrifice fly. Brighton C. Schofield led off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single, but it was all the offense Goshen would get.
The two teams conclude their series Saturday with another doubleheader. GC will be the designated home team, but the games will be played at Taylor because that field has artificial turf and has had more time to let the snow melt. First pitch is still set for 1 p.m.
