No. 1 Seed Baseball Releases Floodgates in 12th Inning Win

Upland, Ind.- The baseball team returned to the field in Upland, Ind., on Tuesday. The team found themselves in the elimination bracket, facing the No. 3 seed in the field, the Cumberland University Phoenix in a survive and advance game.

The first inning saw one team take the first lead. Cumberland scored six runs in the bottom of the first to take a 6-0 lead into the second inning. TWU cut the deficit in half in the second inning. 

Dan Sayre became the first run when he scored from first on a Braxton Turner double. A double to left field by Evan Magill brought courtesy-runner Aiden McClary to home plate and Magill scored on a Chad Picton single to make the score 6-3 after two innings. In the third inning, Andre Tarver scored on a sacrifice fly by Parker Stinnett to cut the deficit to two runs. The opponents scored three runs in the fourth inning to move ahead 9-4. The seventh and eighth innings saw the Bulldogs score five runs. 

With the bases loaded by Cayle Webster, Marco Martinez, and Tarver, Cody McGill unloaded two of the bases with his single, scoring both Webster and Martinez. With the bases loaded again, a walk by Magill brought Tarver home to make the score to bring the team within three runs. After a four-run bottom of the seventh inning, Carson Ford brought Webster home in the top of the eighth to make the score 13-8. A bases-loaded walk made Ford the ninth run of the game for Tennessee Wesleyan. Cumberland matched the two runs in the inning by the Bulldogs, making the score 15-9 to begin the ninth inning.

After two walks opened the ninth inning for TWU, two outs occurred. A third walk kept the inning alive and loaded the bases. The bases became unloaded when Sayre blasted a ball over the center field wall for a grand slam, cutting the deficit to two runs. Stinnett, Turner, and Magill loaded the bases again as the Bulldogs. Welchel gave the team a 16-15 lead with his base-clearing double. Webster hit a double to center field to score Preston Welchel and Tennessee Wesleyan led 18-15 to start the bottom of the ninth after a Ford double scored Webster. The opponents scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth, forcing the game into extra innings with an 18-18 score.

The tenth and eleventh innings saw no runs score. The twelfth inning saw 12 runs come across home plate, all for the Bulldogs. After getting on via a single, Sayre became the winning run when standing on third a wild pitch allowed him to score, giving the team a 19-18 advantage. A single by Welchel scored McClary and Stinnett while a single by Webster brought in Magill and Welchel. Martinez smacked a ball over the left field fence for three more runs and Sayre scored a second time in the inning, once again on a wild pitch. The team reached the final score of 30-18 when Welchel hit a bomb over the right field fence for a three-run home run.

Welchel led the team with eight RBIs in the game. Blake Peyton picked up the win, striking out four batters in two innings of relief.

TWU (43-10) will move on to play No. 4 seed Point Park University at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.