No. 6 Baseball Completes Series Sweep of Johnson

ATHENS, Tenn.- The sixth-ranked baseball team concluded the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series against the Johnson University Royals on Sunday. The two teams finished the series with a doubleheader at Athens Insurance Stadium.

Game One:

In the second inning, Cody McGill gave the Bulldogs the first lead. Corbin Shaw opened the inning with a double, scoring the first run of the game on McGill's single. Johnson tied the game in the top of the third inning.

TWU took back the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Hagen Escoto and Braxton Turner both used singles to get on base. Jack Stevens was able to bring bot runners home as his double gave the base runners time to score, making the lead 3-1 at the end of the third. By the end of the sixth, the lead was 7-1. 

In the fifth inning, the Bulldogs scored two runs. Turner hit a double to become the first runner of the bottom half of the inning. Marco Martinez became the second runner with a single. A balk allowed Turner to score as he stood on third after Martinez's hit. Cayle Webster hit a ball to center field that turned into a sacrifice fly as Martinez scored to make the lead 5-1.

In the sixth inning, Evan Magill opened with a single. Aiden McClary came in to courtesy run and moved to second on a Carson Ford hit by pitch. A sacrifice bunt by Escoto moved each runner a base and McClary scored on an infield fly by Stevens. A walk with the bases loaded by Blake Hubble brought Ford home, making the score 7-1. Johnson scored their final run in the seventh inning. TWU moved to ten runs in the eighth inning.

Turner, via a single, a walk by Hubble, and a single by Webster made the bases loaded. Kruise Newman came to the plate and hit a single that brought both Turner and Hubble across home plate. The tenth run and final run for the team came off Magill's hit, a single that scored Webster to give the team a 10-2 win in the first game of the doubleheader. The win also clinched the series for the Bulldogs.

Stevens and Newman both had two RBIs in the game. Blake Peyton was credited with the pitching win, striking out six batters in 4.1 innings.

Game Two:

TWU scored ten more runs in game two of the doubleheader. This time though, Johnson took the first lead with two runs in the first inning.

A run did not come for the Bulldogs until the third inning when Hubble scored on Martinez's single. Tennessee Wesleyan took control of the game in the fourth inning.

The first three batters, Webster, Magill, and Newman, all got on base to load them. Jacob Tolson came to the dish and hit a triple, ending the three previous runners time on base as they all scored while Escoto came in to courtesy run. Ford brought in Escoto with a double, moving the team's lead to 5-2. A sacrifice fly by Martinez made the score 6-2 as Ford scored.

The fifth inning saw the Bulldogs move their lead to seven runs. After an error allowed Webster to reach second base, Newman hit a double that brought Webster home. Tolson recorded two more RBIs when he belted a ball over the left field wall for a two-run home run, scoring Newman in the process. The score was 9-2 after the fifth. TWU won the game 10-3 after Hubble scored a run off Webster's single in the sixth inning of the seven-inning game.

Tolson finished with five RBIs. Daniel Davila had eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings in the pitching win.

Up next for the Bulldogs (12-9, 7-5 AAC) is a home game on Tuesday against Indiana Tech. The game at Athens Insurance Stadium is set to begin at 2:00 p.m.