After a year full of program records and dominating competition, Taylor baseball proved themselves on the big stage at the NAIA College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.
After going 49-5 across the regular season and winning the Crossroads League Championship, the Trojans secured their spot in the College World Series by going 3-0 enroute to winning their bracket of the NAIA Opening Round. This marked the third NAIA College World Series appearance in program history.
The seniors were the only ones to experience the previous run in 2023.
“It felt like there was a lot more senior responsibility this year than there was my freshman year, and what I mean by that was we were very underclassmen-heavy my freshman year,” graduated infielder Brennan Frickel said. “So therefore there was a lot of expectations of the upperclassmen to do their role (this year).”
After winning their bracket of the Opening Round on Wednesday, May 13, the players finished their finals over the weekend before flying out to Idaho the next Monday. Before their first game of the College World Series, the team took time to slow down and enjoy their surroundings.
“It was some of the best time of my life,” senior reliever Nathan Frady said. “You’re 15 states away with 30 of your best friends and teammates, playing the game that we all love. The stadium was historic, we felt like celebrities during our school visit, and we even had a burger that was as wide as a pizza.”
However, things didn’t start the way the Trojans had hoped. On Friday, May 22, Taylor dropped its first of the tournament game 7-4 against No. 19 William Carey.
“We were pretty hopeful going into the tournament,” Frady said. “As the No. 1 team in the country, we knew we belonged there. However, we got punched early with a loss in the first game. Once we won our next game, our mentality changed, we were on a winning streak, and that sparked the momentum that carried us through the tournament.”
However, the Trojans stormed back. Over the next three days, they defeated No. 10 Doane 10-8, No. 4 Lewis-Clark State, the tournament host, 8-5 and No. 18 Mid-America Christian 13-4.
“The guys had a lot of belief in themselves and a lot of belief in each other, there’s just no panic to them, so we just take it a day at a time,” head coach Kyle Gould said. “They were ready to go and yeah, it’s a grind. It’s a lot of pressure and there’s a lot on the line, but I was really proud of the way they handled it.”
After their three game win-streak, all that stood between Taylor and the finals was a rematch against No. 19 William Carey. Sophomore JT Tabor took the mound for what would be an elimination game for one of the two teams.
“Starting the semifinal game was an awesome experience,” Tabor said. “My mindset going into it was just to compete every pitch and be confident in myself out there. I had to treat it like any other game I started during the season, while there was a lot of extra motivation with it possibly being my last game with those seniors.”
The mindset worked. Tabor was excellent over 4.2 innings, giving up two runs and only one earned. He allowed only five baserunners and struck out just as many.
The Trojans’ offense backed Tabor, scoring seven runs fueled by home runs from junior right fielder Luke Sutter and senior left fielder Brayden Manning. The final score, 7-4, was the same as the game the Trojans lost to the very same No. 19 William Carey earlier in the tournament.
After defeating William Carey, the Trojans secured their spot in the finals against No. 16 Tennessee Wesleyan. The game didn’t go quite as the purple and gray hoped, resulting in a harrowing 21-3 loss.
“We made mistakes, and when we made mistakes, they punished us for it,” Gould said. “It just wasn’t our night. But to make it to the National Championship game, we were ranked number one all season and then to get out to the World Series and play like that and prove that you belonged and have a chance to play for national champions is incredible.”
Frickel, who homered in the final game, said if he could note one thing, it would be that the team lived by knowing that nobody had it better than them.
“Looking back on it, there’s no other way, other than winning the National Championship, that I would have wanted to end my baseball career,” Frickel said. “I could not have scripted a more perfect way to go out. I was so eternally grateful for the ways that I had been poured into on and off the field at Taylor and finishing my career in Lewiston, away from Upland, felt like we had accomplished something beyond what we had done every day to prepare for.”
The success of the 2026 Trojans will go down as the most successful year in Taylor baseball program history to date. And while for some schools, there would be a lot to live up to, Gould notes that each team at Taylor gets to write their own chapter.
