No. 6 Baseball Earns Trip to World Series Championship with Walk-Off Win

LEWISTON, Idaho- A trip to the national championship game was on the line for the sixth-seeded baseball team on Thursday. After playing them the night before, the Bulldogs faced the No. 5 seed in the Avista NAIA Baseball World Series again, the Reinhardt University Eagles. The winner went to the championship game of the World Series.

Pitching and defense were one of the theme of the games as the teams combined for five runs and scored one run in each of the innings a run was scored. Reinhardt took the first lead of the game in the third inning. TWU responded in the fourth inning. 

Evan Magill hit a two-out double to get on base in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cayle Webster hit a single to right field at the next at-bat and Magill went around third to home plate to tie the score 1-1. 

Pitching took back over until the seventh inning when the opponents moved ahead 2-1. The game went into the bottom of the ninth inning with Reinhardt still holding their 2-1 lead.

Facing the possibility of going home, Magill opened the bottom of the ninth with a double. The game turned bleak as the first two outs of the inning with recording. Daniel Stewart hit a two-out single to center field, and like in the fourth inning, Magill made it home before the throw to tie the game 2-2 and send the game into extra innings.

After getting a double play to end the top of the tenth, and three straight outs in the top of the eleventh, the Bulldogs made a move in the bottom of the eleventh. 

The first batter, Magill, got on base with a walk. Webster followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved Magill into scoring position on second base. As Magill stood on second, Kruise Newman hit a single to left field that turned into a walk-off RBI single when Magill scored for the third time in the game, ending the game with Tennessee Wesleyan winning 3-2 to advance to the championship game.

Blake Peyton got the start on the mound, striking out seven batters in seven innings. Jake Sergent was credited with the win for the Bulldogs.

TWU (44-17) will play for their third national championship on Friday against No. 4 seed Hope International University. The title game is set to begin at 9:35 p.m., ET/6:35 p.m., PT.