No. 2 Baseball Clinch Series Against Milligan with Doubleheader Sweep

ATHENS, Tenn.- The baseball team closed out the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series against the Milligan University Buffaloes with a doubleheader on Saturday. No. 2 TWU won the first game of the doubleheader 11-5 and the second game 13-0 to win the series.

Game One:

TWU scored four runs in the third inning. Jonathan Bosque got on base with a hit by pitch, stole second, and moved to third on a Chris Catalano sacrifice bunt. Josh Shelly made Bosque the first run with a single through the left side. Daniel Stewart put runners on the corner before Kolton Reynolds hit a home run, bringing in three runs to give the team a 4-0 lead and starting a flurry of homers for the Bulldogs.

Devin Dixon and Kruise Newman hit home runs in the fourth inning to move the lead to 6-1. Reynolds hit his second home run of the game in the fifth inning and Nick Collins copied with a solo shot to make the score 8-1. The remaining three runs for the team were scored in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.

Shelly was the run in the sixth inning, scoring on a Reynolds RBI double. Newman brought in the run in the seventh, giving Dixon the space to score for the tenth run. The final run of the win was in the form of a solo home run by Stewart. 

Reynolds finished with five RBIs in the game. Daniel Batcher pitched 7.2 innings, striking out five batters in the process.

Game Two:

Tennessee Wesleyan held their 13-run advantage after the third inning. Reynolds hit his third home run of the game in the first inning, bringing in Stewart to give the team a 2-0 lead after the first inning. 

After a sac bunt by Newman got Dixon to second base, Bosque hit a single up the middle to bring Dixon home. Catalano followed with a double to center field, bringing in Bosque and courtesy-runner Hagen Escoto. An error on Stewart's at-bat gave Catalano the time to score, giving the team a 6-0 lead to start the third inning. 

In the third inning, a throwing error allowed Newman to get on first and Dixon to score from second. A single by Geremy Garcia and a Bosque hit by pitch loaded the bases. The bases were not loaded long though as Catalano hit a ball over the wall for a grand slam, moving the team's lead to 11-0. Reynolds remained hot at the plate, hitting his fourth home run of the day and second in the game and Corbin Shaw recorded the final run in the same fashion, giving the team the 13 runs they went on to win with.

Julian Berinti finished with five strikeouts in four innings while picking up the win. Catalano led the offense with six RBIs.

In winning the series, the Bulldogs moved their record to 26-9 overall and 15-6 in the AAC. TWU will be back in action on Friday when they host Truett McConnell University in a conference series. The single game is set for 3:00 p.m.