Some sports can be short and sweet, playing only a handful of games per season. Baseball is not one of those sports. The season is long and the grind can be grueling. That is one of many reasons why playoffs are so rewarding.
While many baseball teams across various levels have a high dosage of ups and downs, Taylor has kept steady throughout the season.
“We’ve just kind of stayed at an even pace,” freshman outfielder Quinn Kunkel said. “We keep getting better each week in practice… I think we’re gonna keep getting better as the season goes on and I think our best baseball is yet to come.”
Despite his freshman status, Kunkel has carved out a significant role on the Trojans to the tune of a .310/.423/.476 slashline (batting/on-base/slugging) across 44 games.
Kunkel is not the only talented player on Taylor’s roster. The entire team has proved to be a well-rounded, multi-tooled powerhouse.
“We have a lot of guys on the bench that would start for everybody else,” Kyle Gould, head coach and Taylor’s athletic director, said. “They have to accept the roles... sometimes the role isn’t as big as what you want, but we’re super deep (in) position players.”
The purple and gray bring depth to the table. Any team facing them must face nine quality hitters in a row. Should a pinch hitter come to the plate, the situation isn’t any better for the opposing side.
There is no rest for the weary, especially not for Taylor’s opponents.
Entering the NAIA College World Series, this will prove to be a key asset for the Trojans who got bounced in the Opening Round by Grand View in a close 11-10 loss last year.
“For the returners, (we) had a great team last year, a lot of great seniors and then just fell a little bit short of going to the World Series,” senior starting pitcher Wes Hunt said. “We knew the potential that we had with a lot of the returners we got. It definitely had some big holes in the lineup, but they’ve been filled in great ways, but just with the goals of going back to the World Series.”
While the Trojans were a force to be reckoned with in 2025, cruising to a 47-11 record, this year the fire has only intensified. 2026 marks the first time in program history with Taylor ranking No. 1 in the NAIA. They played their way to a 49-5 record, breaking a program record of single season wins in a 12-2 Crossroads League Tournament victory over Huntington on May 2.
The next step for the purple and gray rests in avenging last year’s early tournament exit. In order to do so, everything lies within preparation.
“We talked a lot about (how) everybody has their ceiling for how high they can go, but then also there’s the floor,” Hunt said. “Our goal is to raise our floor as much as possible…, we strive to make our floor higher than everybody else’s.”
As grueling as a long season can be, the Trojans have flourished as they watched their opponents fall, one by one.
On April 23, Taylor earned their fourth straight CL Regular Season Championship as well as its 1700th program win in a 6-5 victory over No. 24 Marian. The next day, they set a program record with 45 regular-season wins and 33 CL wins. They have only lost one home game all year.
Gould said there was a time when Taylor played the bottom teams in the league. He was worried the team would get bored. Fortunately, playing teams like Indiana Wesleyan and Marian toward the end of the regular season proved to be more challenging. On May 4 the Trojans toppled Indiana Wesleyan 12-11 in a winner-takes-all game for the CLT Championship, marking Taylor’s third-straight Tournament win.
The squad has the looks of a team prepared for a deep run at the NAIA College World Series.
“We did it our freshman year and have great memories from that,” Hunt said. “So that’s definitely been a driving factor.”
Taylor will host the NAIA World Series Opening Round starting on May 11 at Winterholter field, with times to be announced.
