Former Casper Oilers standouts Harrison Taubert and Carter Young are headed to the NCAA Division I Baseball regionals.
Taubert, a 2021 graduate of Natrona County High School, is a junior outfielder for the University of Evansville, which faces No. 16 East Carolina on Friday in the Greenville Regional.
Young, who graduated from Kelly Walsh in 2020, is a senior pitcher for Grand Canyon University. The ‘Lopes (34-23) play No. 13 Arizona on Friday in the Tucson Regional.
Evansville (35-23) won the Missouri Valley Conference championship last weekend with Taubert earning all-tournament honors. He batted .386 with a home run and seven runs batted in for the Purple Aces, who defeated Indiana State 8-6 in the MVC championship game. For the season, Taubert hit .307 with 21 doubles, eight home runs and 48 RBI in his first season at Evansville.
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Last year Taubert garnered second-team all-Region 11 honors as an outfielder at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska. He led the Hawks in batting average (.365), hits (67), RBI (61), triples (8) and on-base percentage (.479).
Taubert was a two-time all-state selection in baseball and also was a two-year starting quarterback and punter for the Mustangs.
The Purple Aces are the No. 4 seed in the Greenville Regional while ECU (43-15) is the No. 1 seed. The regional also includes VCU and Wake Forest.
Young has battled injuries this season and enters the weekend with a 3-2 record and a 4.32 earned run average. For his career, the right-hander is 16-11 with a 4.70 ERA.
As a freshman in 2021, Young went 7-1 with a 2.77 ERA and was named a Freshman All-American and earned second-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors.
Grand Canyon lost in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament, but was awarded the conference’s automatic bid because tourney winner Tarleton State is ineligible for the NCAA Championships. The ‘Lopes went 23-7 in conference play, winning the WAC by five games. No. 4 seed Grand Canyon is 2-0 this season against top seed Arizona (36-21). Dallas Baptist and West Virginia round out the Tucson Region.
