No. 2 Baseball Outduels Knights

Athens, Tenn.- The baseball team returned to Athens Insurance Stadium on Saturday to close out their series against the Kentucky Christian University Knights. The second-ranked Bulldogs and Knights ended the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) games with a doubleheader.

Game One:

Six runs were scored through the first four innings of the game. Cayle Webster started the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning. After Kentucky Christian tied the game in the top of the second inning, Braxton Turner gave the team back the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Turner continued the home run trend, hitting a solo shot to make the score 2-1.

The home run trend continued in the third inning, this time in the form of a Dan Sayre solo shot making the score 3-1. Each team scored a run in the fourth inning but neither came through a home run.

With the score 3-2, Cody McGill began the bottom of the fourth with a hit by pitch to get on base. A sacrifice bunt by Evan Magill moved McGill to second and a ground out by Jacob Tolson got the base runner to third. McGill trolled home on an Ayden Mansfield triple, making the score 4-2. The remaining innings went scoreless, giving the team a 4-2 win to clinch the series.

Blake Peyton had seven strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work. Carmine Poppiti, who pitched 2.2 innings while picking up the win, had three strikeouts on the mound while Carter Gannaway had four strikeouts in the save. Sayre, Webster, Turner, and Mansfield each had one RBI.

Game Two:

In the second game of the day, and the third of the series, the Knights took the first lead by scoring two runs in the top of the third. TWU got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third.

Carson Ford hit a double to right field to put himself in scoring position. A passed ball moved Ford to third and an error on Sayre's at-bat brought the runner across home to make the score 2-1 after the third inning. McGill tied it in the fourth inning. A triple got McGill on third and a sacrifice fly by Preston Welchel tied the game as McGill scored on the flyout. The game was not tied for long though as Kentucky Christian scored two runs in the fifth to move ahead 4-2. The game became tied again in the bottom of the sixth.

The first three batters, Webster (error), Parker Stinnett (walk), and Turner (single), loaded the bases. A fielder's choice on McGill's at-bat kept the bases loaded but the runner on third was forced out at home. A walk by Marco Martinez resulted in the first run of the inning as Stinnett jogged to the home dish. A single by pinch-hitter Evan Magill tied the game as pinch-runner Mansfield crossed home plate on the hit. The scheduled seven-inning game did not see a lead change until extra innings, in the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, McGill ended the game with a walk-off solo home run, giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 win to complete the series sweep.

Sayre, McGill, Welchel, Martinez, and Magill all finished with an RBI in the game. Robert Kelley and Sam Rochard each had three strikeouts on the mound. Kyle Bloor was credited with the win, picking up one strikeout in one inning.

The win moved the team's record to 20-3 overall and 12-0 in the AAC.