No. 1 Baseball Wins Season Opener Against No. 24 British Columbia

LAKELAND, Fla.- The baseball team, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, played their first game of the 2025 season on Wednesday. Playing in the East/West Challenge, the Bulldogs defeated the #24 University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 9-6.

After becoming the first base runner with a single, Josh Shelly eventually became the first run of the game when he scored on Edwin Toribio's single to left field, putting the Bulldogs ahead 1-0. Shelly helped the team break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the second, bringing home Kolton Reyonlds to give the team a 2-1 lead after two innings.

In the third inning, British Columbia tied the score again. TWU broke the tie with four runs. With the bases loaded as Nick Collins, Jonathan Bosque, who was standing in for Daniel Stewart, and Devin Dixon on base, Reynolds hit a single up the middle. The hit allowed Collins and Bosque to score, breaking the tie. Jack Stevens followed with a ground out that allowed Dixon to score and Brayan Espinoza helped the team score one more run as Reynolds scored on a ground out, moving the lead to 6-2. 

The sixth inning saw the Bulldogs add three more runs to their lead. With runners Espinoza and Shelly on second, Chris Catalano brought the former in with a ground out RBI. Cody McGill gave Shelly the room to score with a double while Dixon gave the team a 9-3 advantage with his RBI-single scoring McGill. Tennessee Wesleyan went on to win the game 9-6 to win their opening game of the 2025 season.

Shelly, Catalano, Toribio, McGill, Dixon, Reynolds all gad RBIs in the game. Cameron Goffar got the pitching win while Daniel Davila was credited with the save. 

TWU (1-0) returns to action at the East/West Challenge on Thursday as they face No. 10 Arizona Christian University. The game is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.