No. 22 Baseball Outduels Knights

GRAYSON, Ky.- The No. 22 ranked baseball team returned to the field on Saturday against the Kentucky Christian University Knights. The team faced a unique situation in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) as the first game between the two teams was suspended due to weather and was going to be completed before a doubleheader.

Game One From Thursday:

The game ended fairly quickly when three outs were recorded in the bottom of the seventh as TWU won a 16-1 run-rule game in seven innings.

Jake Sergent got the pitching win. Martinez led the offense with four RBIs.

Game One (Saturday Doubleheader):

Tennessee Wesleyan scored 10 runs from the third inning through the seventh inning in the nine-inning game. Braxton Turner scored the first run of the game in the third inning, scoring on Marco Martinez's sacrifice fly. Turner was also responsible for the second and third runs of the game when his double in the fourth scored both Hagen Escoto and Cayle Webster. The fifth inning saw three more runs come across.

Evan Magill brought the first run across in the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Martinez. Kruise Newman had two RBIs on his single as Webster and Jack Stevens scored as the bases were loaded. Newman moved the lead to eight runs when his double scored Magill and Webster, making the score 8-0. Carson Ford hit a sacrifice fly to center field that brought in Corbin Shaw, and Newman scored on a wild pitch, putting the run rule into effect as the score was 10-0. The ten-run score for the Bulldogs ended up being the final score as Kentucky Christian did not score any runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Gage Vailes got the pitching win, pitching four innings and striking out two batters. Blake Peyton had eight strikeouts in three innings pitched. The two pitchers combined for a no-hitter through 6.2 innings, only giving up one hit. Newman led the offense with four RBIs.

Game Two (Saturday Doubleheader):

A ground out by Cody McGill brought the first run home in the first inning as Blake Hubble scored. The team added more runs to their score in the second inning.

Newman was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a stolen base. After a ground out moved him to third, Escoto brought Newman home to move the lead to 2-0. Escoto eventually made his way around the bases, scoring on Hubble's RBI single, giving the team a 3-0 lead after the second. Jacob Tolson added a run in the fourth inning as his sacrifice fly brought home Webster. Kentucky Christian cut into the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning.

In the sixth inning, TWU brought moved their lead higher. Hubble became the first run after a couple of errors allowed after his walk gave him the space to make it to home plate. Martinez also got on base with a walk, scoring from first on Webster's double. Webster got to third on a wild pitch before trotting home on McGill's bomb over the right field wall, moving the lead to 8-2. Webster helped make the final score 9-3 as his RBI single allowed Turner to score. 

Daniel Davila picked up the win in the game, pitching four innings while striking out five batters. Webster and Escoto both finished with two RBIs.

The three wins moved the Bulldogs' overall record to 17-9 overall and 10-6 in the AAC. The team stays on the road for their next game, a non-conference contest against Cumberland University. The game on Tuesday is set for 3:00 p.m.  (15-9, 8-5 AAC) and the Knights