No. 2 Seed Baseball Score Five Unanswered Runs to Advance to Kingsport Bracket Championship

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The baseball team played for a trip to a championship game of the Kingsport Bracket at the 2024 NAIA Baseball Opening Round. Occupying the opposing dugout from the No. 2 seeded Bulldogs were the No. 1 seed in the bracket, the Webber International University Warriors. 

Like the first game the Bulldogs played on Tuesday, pitching and defense dominated through the beginning portion of the game. It was not until the fifth inning the first run of the game occurred. 

Kruise Newman was responsible for the first run, hitting a solo home run to give TWU a 1-0 lead after the top half of the fifth inning. The bottom half of the fifth and sixth innings saw the Warriors score two runs to give the opponents a 2-1 advantage. Jack Stevens tied the game in the seventh.

Cayle Webster began the seventh inning with a single and Marco Martinez followed with a single to move Webster to second. Stevens made it three consecutive singles, nabbing a RBI as Webster put on the wheels to score from second to tie the game 2-2. Martinez stood on third after the single and the fourth ball of a Evan Magill earned walk, Martinez would score. The opposing catcher was not able to handle the pitch on the fourth called ball, giving Martinez the space to score and the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.

In the eighth inning, Tennessee Wesleyan added some insurance. A fielder's choice allowed Dante Leach to get on base. Braxton Turner helped Leach complete his time on base with a home run, giving the team a 5-2 lead after the two-run shot. Martinez scored one more time in the game, this time from first base on Magill's double to make the final score 6-2 and advancing the Bulldogs to the championship game of the Kingsport Bracket.

Sam Rochard had five strikeouts on the mound while Christian Delashmit had four strikeouts.

TWU (39-16) moves on to the Kingsport Bracket Championship Game on Wednesday. As a virtue of being the only undefeated team in the Kingsport Bracket, the opposing team will have to beat the Bulldogs twice to prevent the team from winning their seventh Opening Round Championship and making their seventh trip to the Avista NAIA World Series.