UPLAND, Ind. - Taylor ended their regular season on a nine-game win streak after defeating Goshen in two games in Upland on Saturday. With the 26-2 and 8-7 losses, Goshen's 2024 season is over. The 12 overall and seven conference wins for the Maple Leafs are season-highs since the 2019 season.
Game One
The Trojans scored 19 of their 26 runs in the bottom of the third inning alone. Ten of their 21 hits came in that inning. Goshen went through four pitchers in the inning.
Joshua Rubio hit a solo home run for Goshen in the top of the second. In the sixth,
Jenner Rodammer's RBI double scored
Curtis Huffman.
Ryan Maloney and
Alex Brito had singles in the game. Taylor had six home runs and six doubles.
Game Two
The Maple Leafs started with a 5-0 lead in game two after a five-run first inning, but the Trojans had a five-run fourth inning and rallied back to win.
The first inning saw a two-RBI double from
Joseph Cerda and a three-run blast by
Chase Smith. The Trojans had two runs in the second, but Goshen's
Ryan Maloney hit an RBI single down the left field line that brought
Jenner Rodammer home to take the lead to 6-2.
Taylor had a single, double and home run that scored runs in the fourth and they took a one-run lead, their first of the game. A homer in the fifth took the lead to 8-6. Rodammer hit his ninth home run of the year for Goshen in the sixth to cut the deficit to one in what ended up being his final at-bat as a Maple Leaf. Despite the push, Goshen left the tying run on base in the seventh and lost by one.
Goshen outhit Taylor 11-7 but the Leafs also had three fielding errors, resulting in two of the home team's runs being unearned. Rodammer and Cerda had three hits each and
Chase Smith had three RBIs to his name. Rodammer scored three of the seven Goshen runs.
David Lopez had the loss, going five innings and allowing six earned runs on six hits.
Lance Wilson threw the last inning and gave up no runs.
Taylor will be the #1 seed in the Crossroads League tournament, followed by #2 Indiana Wesleyan, #3 Saint Francis, #4 Huntington, #5 Mount Vernon Nazarene, #6 Marian, #7 Spring Arbor and #8 Grace. Goshen finished ninth and Bethel was tenth.
