No. 21 Baseball Scores 11 Times in Win Against Truett McConnell

CLEVELAND, Ga.- The baseball team, No. 21 in the NAIA, went on the road for an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series against the Truett McConnell University Bears. The two teams began the three-game series with a single game on Friday.

Entering the fourth inning, the Bulldogs were down one run. By the end of the fourth inning, TWU had tied the score. After getting on base with a walk, Blake Hubble moved to second on a Jack Stevens single and scored on Cayle Webster's single, making the score 1-1. The team took the lead in the fifth inning. 

Cody McGill was standing on first after a single as Braxton Turner came to the plate and belted a ball over the left field wall, giving the team a 3-1 advantage at the end of the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, the team added more insurance to their lead. Corbin Shaw was the fourth run of the when he scored on Turner's single. An error off the hit by Hubble allowed both Newman and Turner to score, moving the lead to 6-1 after the inning ended. Five more runs were scored by the Bulldogs on their way to a win.

Four of them occurred in the eighth inning. The final pitch of a Webster walk was thrown out of the reach of the opposing catcher, giving Hubble, who stood on third, a chance to score and moving Marco Martinez to third. Evan Magill hit a single to center field that moved Webster to second and brought Martinez home. Shaw hit a ball to center field that Webster and Magill both scored on, giving the team 10 runs in the game. The final run for Tennessee Wesleyan came in the ninth inning when McGill scored on Martinez's single and the final score went on to be 11-4. 

Sam Rochard got the pitching win, stirking out five batters in six innings. Gage Vailes pitched three innings, striking out two batters. Turner led the offense with three RBIs.

The series between the Bulldogs (23-13, 14-7 AAC) finishes on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.