No. 2 Seed Baseball Moves to AAC Tournament Semifinals

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The baseball team saw a career-night help them advance in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament on Thursday. The second-seeded Bulldogs won their game against the No. 3 seed Johnson University Royals 7-3. 

The career night came from the mound as Blake Peyton dealth a career-high 16 strikeouts. As Peyton was dealing seats back to the dugout, including striking our the first six batters he faced, the offense took control in the third inning. 

Devin Dixon and Kruise Newman hit back-to-back singles to begin the third inning. Catalano made it a third straight single, scoring Dixon in the process. A wild pitch moved each runner a base before Josh Shelly made it fourth consecutive singles, scoring both Newman and Catalano to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 advantage. A double play limited some more opportunities for the team to score. Kolton Reynolds kept the inning going though, geting on base with a walk. Reynolds quickly made it back to the plate, scoring on Corbin Shaw's triple. Shaw was the final run of the inning, giving TWU a 5-0 lead on Jack Stevens' RBI single. Johnson got on the board in the fourth inning with a single run.

Tennessee Wesleyan hit three doubles in the seventh inning with two of them resulting in two runs. Newman started the double train and scored on Daniel Stewart's double a few batters later. Reynolds made it back-to-back doubles, scoring courtesy-runner Jonathan Bosque to move the lead to 7-1. The opponents added a run in each the eighth and ninth innings, but it was not enough to unseat the Bulldogs. 

Peyton pitched 7.2 innings in the win. Shelly led the offense with two RBIs. 

The win gave TWU their 40th victory of the season, marking the fifth straight season with at least 40 wins for the Bulldogs. The team will now play on Friday against the winner of Bryan College and Johnson University for a chance to play in the championship game. Friday's game is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.