Taylor Baseball Comes Full Circle
05.11.2009
On Tuesday the Taylor University baseball team will do something they have not done in 40 years by taking the field in Rome, Georgia, at the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
"I told Kyle [Gould, Taylor's head coach,] early in the season, ‘This is the 40th anniversary. It's time to repeat,'" former Taylor head coach Jack King (1961-71) said. King took the 1969 Trojans to the school's first ever baseball national tournament and won five consecutive District 21 championships.
Gould's squad responded to King's wishes by winning the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament Championship last Wednesday, earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships for the first time since 1969.
"[The 1969 team] was an outstanding group of kids," King said, "similar to what Kyle has this year."
The success of the '69 "Diamondmen", as Taylor's annual year book referred to them, was a product of veteran players capitalizing on years of experience together. As sophomores, the core group from the championship team came within one win of advancing to the national stage in 1967. Facing Eastern Michigan at home in the championship of the double elimination tournament, the Trojans had to beat the Eagles just once on the final day of competition. However, Eastern Michigan was able to avenge a 12-10 early round loss to the Trojans with two one-run victories (2-1 and 3-2) for the championship. The losses left a scar imprinted on the minds of Taylor's core for two years.
In 1969 those sophomores, now seniors, traveled to Ypsilanti, Mich., and the home of the Eagles for the regional tournament with the '67 loss in the forefront of their minds.
"We definitely had not forgotten about those games two years earlier," outfielder Tim Sumner ('69) said.
It was déjà vu for the Trojans when they faced Eastern Michigan for the Area VI championship, but this time the tables turned. As it had two years earlier, Taylor needed just one win to advance to the national tournament, but lost an 11-0 shutout in game one. With the score tied in game two, Sumner, not known for his power hitting, blasted a sacrifice fly to the warning track that drove in the eventual winning run. The Trojans escaped with a 4-2 victory for the regional championship and an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships in St. Joseph, Missouri.
"It was one of the most important balls I ever hit in my life," Sumner said. "[Going to the national tournament] was not something we thought about early on in the season. We just played well and got on a streak at the end."
Defeating one of the NAIA's most formidable baseball programs, Eastern Michigan, highlighted the streak. One year later the Eagles won the NAIA national championship and in 1972 they joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Taylor finished fifth in the national tournament dropping two of three games in the double elimination bracket. After losing to St. Cloud State (Minn.) by the score of 6-0, Taylor stayed alive by defeating Emporia State (Kan.) 6-5. However, one game later Glassboro (N.J.) ended Taylor's magical run with a 3-2 victory.
Taylor's starting shortstop, Randy Mohler, was named a First Team NAIA All-American that season as well as a Sporting News All-American. Shortly following his 16 home run and 60+ RBI season, the San Francisco Giants drafted Mohler in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Many of Taylor baseball's alumni stayed connected with the game following that season. Sumner coached varsity baseball for 13 years at Eastbrook High School in Upland, Ind., competing against teammates Rick Atkinson (Mississenewa head coach) and the late Chris Rood (Wabash head coach). Atkinson, who has served as a Taylor assistant coach under Kyle Gould the last four seasons, was a hard-hitting third baseman for the Trojans from 1966-68 before transferring to Greenville College to complete requirements for an education degree. He went on to sign with the Atlanta Braves, and was later inducted into the Indiana High School Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Sumner moved on to Mississippi State as a first base and hitting coach in 1982. In 1985 Mississippi State met the University of Arkansas and Coach King's son, Jeff, in the NCAA College World Series. Jeff was selected first overall in the 1986 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and eventually hit against current Taylor pitching coach Matt Kinzer, who was a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization. Kinzer is the father of Trojans sophomore starting pitcher and designated hitter, Taylor Kinzer.
"There has been a good tradition of baseball here at Taylor and the alumni are all very connected because of their experiences here," Gould said.
Forty years later the story will come full circle when Taylor takes the field on Tuesday against The Master's College (Calif.) at 12 p.m. EDT. This year's national tournament journey will take the Trojans through Rome, Ga. and the campus of Berry College for one of nine opening round five-team double elimination tournaments. The winner will advance to the NAIA College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho on May 22-29.
With the fifth seed in the Georgia opening round bracket, the Trojans will hope to exceed the 1969 team's fifth place showing.
"It's important to us to not only represent Taylor University well, but the entire baseball program and alumni too," Gould said.
After the 40-year absence, Coach King says the accomplishment of the 2009 team is an occasion to celebrate. "It just shows how hard it is to get to the national tournament," King said. "Kyle has had an outstanding season and has done a great coaching job with these Taylor student-athletes."