No. 2 Baseball Slams Bluefield

Bluefield, Va.- The baseball team, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, returned to the field on Sunday to conclude their conference series against the Bluefield University Rams. The Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) opponents ended the series with a doubleheader. 

Game One: 

In the first game, the first score change did not occur until the third inning. The one run in the third inning came across for the Bulldogs. Evan Magill opened up the inning with a single, moving to second on a Cade Bochlter sacrifice bunt. Magill scored on a Carson Ford single to give the team a 1-0 lead. 

In the fifth inning, Bochlter and Ford singled to get on base. A sacrifice bunt by Dan Sayre moved each runner a base, and both scored on an Andre Tarver single. A single by Cayle Webster to left field gave Tarver enough time to get to third. A rundown that Webster got in allowed Tarver to steal home, giving TWU a 4-0 lead at the end of the fifth inning. 

The team did the most damage in the sixth inning. Braxton Turner started with a triple and courtesy runner Aiden McClary scored on a Parker Stinnett single. Magill earned a walk to put two runners on, and an error on Bochlter's at-bat gave Stinnett the space to score. Magill and Bochlter were not on base for long as Ford blasted a ball over the right-cetner field wall for a three-run home run, making the score 9-0. Sayre, getting on base with a double and advancing to third on a ground out, scored the 10th run of the game on a wild pitch, putting the run-rule in effect. Webster added another run, this time in the form of a solo home run.   

In the final inning of the game due to the run-rule, Stinnett scored on McClary's single to make the final score 12-0 after seven innings. 

Ford led the team with four RBIs in the game. Gage Vailes picked up the pitching win, striking out six batters in the seven-inning contest. 

Game Two: 

Game two seemed like it was going to be close as the game was tied through three innings. In the first inning, the Bulldogs scored when Sayre crossed home plate on a Tarver RBI single. The scoring continued in the second inning as Ford brought in two runs with a double as Stinnett and Turner both scored. A sacrifice fly by Sayre saw McClary score, making Tennessee Wesleyan the first team to four runs. Bluefield followed with a run in the bottom of the second and three runs in the third, tying the score 4-4. The tie was broken in the fourth inning. 

With Stinnett standing on third after a double and stolen base, and Ford on second via a hit by pitch and stolen base, Sayre brought both runners in with a double, making the score 6-4 in favor of TWU. The Bulldogs were not done yet as they scored 11 runs over the sixth and seventh innings. 

The sixth inning saw six runs cross home plate, the first being Stinnett on a McClary sacrifice fly. The next run came when Ayden Mansfield crossed home plate on a Sayre sacrifice fly, doubling the score the Rams held. Marco Martinez scored Ford and a single by Webster scored Martinez a few at-bats later. A wild pitch gave Tarver the chance to score, and the sixth run came across when Webster scored on Stinnett's RBI double, moving the teams lead to 12-4.  

Three of the final five runs on Tennessee Wesleyan's way to a 17-4 victory came on a three-run home run by Sayre in the seventh inning, scoring McClary and Ford along with the batter. Mansfield hit a single that brought Martinez over home plate and a sacrifice fly by Stinnett scored Tarver to give the team their 13-run win in the second game, completing the series sweep. 

Sayre finished the game with seven RBI to lead the offense while Ford and Stinnett added two RBIs each. Kyle Bloor got the start, striking out six batters in three innings. 

Up next for the Bulldogs (27-6, 17-0 AAC) is a road conference series at Point University. The first game is set to begin at 2:00 p.m.