Baseball Wins 15th AAC Tournament Title

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The baseball team played for a championship on Sunday. The second-seeded Bulldogs faced the No. 1 seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Baseball Championship Tournament, the Reinhardt University Eagles, in the championship game of the tournament.

The hits came for the Bulldogs in a pitcher's duel, but none made a mark until the sixth inning. Jack Stevens opened the sixth inning with a double to left field and moved to third on Cayle Webster's ground out. Marco Martinez hit a fly out that turned into a sacrifice fly when Stevens tagged on the catch and ran across home plate. Reinhardt tied the score in the bottom of the sixth though.

TWU took the back in the seventh inning. Corbin Shaw got on base with a single. After standing there through the next at-bat, Shaw was able to return to home plate on a Carson Ford two-run home run, moving the score to 3-1. Shaw grew the lead in the eighth inning. Kruise Newman hit a double to right-center field to and scored on Shaw's double, moving the team's lead to 4-1. The lead did not last long for the Bulldogs as the Eagles tied the score in the bottom of the eighth.

A scoreless ninth inning led to free baseball. The first extra inning of baseball saw the end of the game. Evan Magill opened the top of the 10th with a walk and moved to third on a Newman single. Shaw hit a fly ball that turned into a sacrifice fly that Magill scored on, giving the team a 5-4 lead. The team kept Reinhardt off the bases in the bottom of the 10th, giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 victory and the championship win.

This is the 15th AAC Tournament Title for the baseball program. This is also the 22nd consecutive season Tennessee Wesleyan (37-16) has won one of either the AAC regular season or tournament title. 

Making the All-Tournament Team was Blake Peyton, Gage Vailes, Marco Martinez, and Tournament MVP Kruise Newman.

The appearance in the conference championship game guaranteed the Bulldogs one of the conference's automatic bids to the 2024 NAIA Baseball National Championship Tournament Opening Round. This will be the 15th straight time the team has qualified for the national tournament. TWU will learn its site location, seed, and opponents on the Bracket Reveal Show on Thursday, May 9 at 5:00 p.m., ET.