Baseball Survives, Defeats The Master's 5-4
May 13, 2009
A pair of hits by Paul Passiales and Michael Kraynak produced three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday as the Taylor University baseball team beat The Master's College for the second straight day, 5-4, avoiding elimination at the NAIA Championship Opening Round.
Taylor (38-18) now moves on to face No. 24 Saint Xavier (Ill.) University (40-14) in another elimination game on Thursday at 2:00 pm.
After falling behind 3-0 to start the game, Taylor Kinzer broke a 14-inning scoreless streak for the Trojans by driving in second baseman Matt Maple with a single through the second base hole.
Up to that point, Master's starting pitcher Tyler Bersano had dominated Taylor hitters by allowing only two hits through 5.2 innings. He had struck out four and walked five, but his pitch count was on its way up.
"He [Bersano] was really good and did a great job of keeping the ball down," said Taylor head coach Kyle Gould. "I just kept telling our guys to wait him out and get his pitch count up. Our hitters really battled and we were finally able to get the runs across."
The patience paid off for Taylor when Michael Nassar drew a leadoff walk in the seventh inning, followed by Nate Hillery being hit by a pitch. Senior Taylor Wilde executed a sacrifice bunt to allow both runners to advance setting the stage for a single by Passiales that drove in a pair of runs. Next up was Maple, who reached on a bunt single to put Passiales into scoring position. That allowed Michael Kraynak to drive in his 61st run of the season with a single to knot the score at 4-4 heading into the top of the eighth.
The Master's (37-22) threatened with a runner on first and second with two outs in the eighth, but Kraynak came on in relief to strike out the only batter he faced in the inning.
Gould's confidence in the junior was evident during his postgame comments. "When it comes to crunch time, there's nobody else I'd want on the mound than Michael. He's a tough kid."
With the score still tied, Kinzer led off the bottom of the eighth with his second big hit of the day. A sacrifice bunt by Nassar then moved Kinzer over to second base, representing the go-ahead run. An out later, Wilde singled to shallow right field as Kinzer scored on a close play at the plate to give the Trojans a 5-4 lead with The Master's coming to bat.
Kraynak stayed on to pitch the ninth inning, but The Master's did not go easily. After a quick first out, the Mustangs singled, stole a base, and then drew a walk to put runners on first and third with two outs. Jared Otto grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game, giving Kraynak (5-4) the win.
Taylor starter Zach Vander Laan was credited with a no decision after scattering seven hits and giving up only one earned run in 5.2 innings of work.
"That was a really good Master's team, and they are very well coached," Gould said after the game. "Our guys were just really tough tonight. They showed a lot of character to pull out this win."
With a win against Saint Xavier on Thursday afternoon, Taylor would move on to play Berry College Thursday evening at 7 p.m. A loss against SXU would eliminate the Trojans from the tournament.