Top Seed Baseball Defeats Truett McConnell; Falls to Union

Kingsport, Tenn.- The baseball team found themselves in a position in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament they had not been in since 2016. The top seed in the tournament fell down to the elimination bracket, meaning they needed to win or they would go home. The first win had to come against the No. 4 seed, the Truett McConnell University Bears. 

In the third inning, the Bulldogs got on the board. Carson Ford opened the inning with a walk and moved to second on a stolen base Marco Martinez hit a single to left field that gave Ford the space to score, giving the team a 1-0 lead. The lead grew in the fourth inning,

Jacob Tolson recorded the first hit of the inning and moved to second via a stolen base. Braxton Turner joined the bases with a walk and Ford loaded the bases with a single. Dan Sayre singled to center field, scoring Tolson and courtesy-runner Aiden McClary to move the lead to 3-0. After a passed ball moved the base runners forward, Ford once again scored on a Martinez single. Standing on third after the previous single, Sayre scored on a wild pitch, and a Cayle Webster double brought Martinez home, making the score 6-0 after the fourth inning. Truett McConnell scored a run in the bottom of the fifth. 

The team got the run plus one back in the sixth inning. A double by Sayre followed by walks by Martinez and Andre Tarver loaded the bases. Sayre became a run on Cody McGill's RBI-ground out and a wild pitch after moving to third on the previous ground out brought Martinez to home plate, moving the lead to 8-1. 

The game ended with TWU going on to win 9-3 after Chris Summey, pinch-running for Martinez, scored on a McGill sacrifice fly, keeping the team alive in the tournament.

Blake Peyton started on the mound and picked up the win, striking out seven batters in 6.1 innings. Carter Gannaway pitched 2.2 innings and struck out two batters. Sayre, Martinez, and McGill each finished with two RBIs in the game.

The win moved the team to an evening game against the fifth-seeded Union College Bulldogs. A win against the opponents would force a game on Saturday against Union again for a trip to the championship game. 

In the game against Union, TWU scored the first run of the game in the first inning. Ford started with a double and Sayre followed with a single. Ford became the first run of the game on Webster's single, giving the team a 1-0 lead after the first inning. The game became tied in the fourth inning. In the eighth inning, the game took a change. 

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the change occurred for the opponents as they scored four runs in the top of the eighth to take a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning, a comeback attempt began with a Preston Welchel walk. A hit by pitch on Ford's at-bat moved pinch-runner McClary to second and the base runner scored on Sayre's single. The comeback attempt fell short though as the three outs needed to close out the game were recorded by the opponents, ending Tennessee Wesleyan's time in the conference tournament.

Gage Vailes got the start on the mound, striking out seven batters in seven innings. Kyle Bloor had three strikeouts in two innings of work. 

Due to their body of work through the regular season, the baseball team should be one of the teams which hear their names called for the 2023 NAIA National Baseball Championship Opening Round. The seeds and bracket for each Opening Round location will be announced on Thursday. The Opening Round sites are listed below.