No. 4 IU Southeast advances to Opening Round Championship following 3-2 victory over No. 2 Taylor

UPLAND, Ind. -- No. 4 IU Southeast (Ind.) put themselves to within one win of advancing back to the Avista NAIA Baseball World Series on Wednesday (May 15) after defeating No. 2 Taylor (Ind.), 3-2, in the Upland Bracket of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.

Taylor tied the game after scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Grenadiers dialed up an answer that came from Trevor Goodwin, who hit a walk-off three-run home run to cap a 12-run, two-out ninth inning rally in Monday's 41-11 win over Indiana Tech.

Goodwin delivered once again, this time with a leadoff solo home run that would eventually be the game-winner lifting the Grenadiers to a 3-2 victory.

With the win, IU Southeast improves to 35-18 overall as they advance to the opening round championship, which is set for 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.

The Trojans, who fall to 42-15 following the loss, drop to the consolation side of the Upland Bracket, where they will meet No. 1 Missouri Baptist in an elimination game on Wednesday night. The winner of that game gets IU Southeast in the championship on Wednesday.

The Grenadiers got the scoring started with a run in the first inning. Mason White reached on a one-out walk and Luke Powell doubled to put runners on second and third. Kody Putman then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field scoring White and giving IU Southeast an early 1-0 lead.

After leaving a pair of runners stranded in the second, the Grenadiers doubled their lead in the third. White opened the inning with a double, and following two quick outs, Goodwin sent an RBI single up the middle, scoring White and extending the Grenadier lead to 2-0.

Connor Sims, who got the starting nod for IUS, allowed a leadoff walk in the first inning but settled in after that, retiring the next nine batters he faced before running into trouble in the fourth.

He allowed a leadoff single, and the runner later advanced to third but was stranded there following a strikeout to end the inning.

The Grenadiers then flashed the leather in the fifth and sixth innings. They turned a 5-4-3 double play in the fifth before turning a 6-4-3 double play in the sixth as they would take a 2-0 lead into the seventh.

The Trojans cut the deficit in half in the seventh with an RBI single in the seventh before Sam Gladd tied the game with an RBI single in the eighth.

Brayden Manning followed with a single that looked to score the go-ahead run, but a great throw by Colin Long in left field was in time to cut down the would-be go-ahead run at the plate.

The great defensive play by Long set up Goodwin's go-ahead solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth as IU Southeast took a 3-2 lead into the ninth. Goodwin finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run, as he now has six hits, including two home runs, in the opening round thus far.

Garrett Hill allowed a two-out single in the ninth but got a flyout to end the game. Hill (3-0 pitched the final two innings and allowed a run on five hits.

Sims was pinned with the no-decision after tossing 5.2 scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits and two walks to go with seven strikeouts.