Baseball Wins Eighth NAIA Opening Round Championship to Advance Avista NAIA World Series

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The baseball team, the top seed in the Kingsport Bracket, entered championship Thursday needing to win two games against the No. 3 seed Columbia College Cougars.

The first three batters for the Bulldogs got on base to open the bottom of the first inning with two walks and a single. Kolton Reynolds put TWU on top when his sacrifice fly gave Josh Shelly the space to score. Corbin Shaw put the Bulldogs up 3-0 at the end of the first inning with a two-RBI single scoring both courtesy runner Jonathan Bosque and Brayan Espinoza. 

Each team scored a run in the third inning, with Espinoza's solo home run making the score 4-1 through three innings. In the fourth inning, Columbia tied the game and took a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning. Tennessee Wesleyan took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth.

Nick Collins got on base when he belted a ball to deep right field that resulted in a triple. Kruise Newman made Collins the game-tying run and himself the go-ahead run with a bomb over the right field wall, giving the team a 6-5 lead. The Bulldogs did not allow Columbia to catch back up, forcing the if-necessary game with a 6-5 win.

Justin Jackson got the pitching win, striking out six batters in five innings of relief. Cameron Goffar was credited with a save. 

In the if-necessary game, Shelly recorded the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the third inning scoring Devin Dixon. Daniel Stewart made the score 2-0 with an RBI single that brought in Bosque. TWU pushed ahead 6-0 in the fifth inning.

Dixon scored the first run of a four-run inning on Shelly's RBI single. Reynolds hit a double that brought in Shelly and Stewart, and Shaw hit a single to complete Reynolds' time on base, giving the team a six-run advantage through the top of the fifth. Columbia scored a run in the bottom of the fifth.

The Bulldogs blew the game open in the seventh inning when they scored 12 runs to move their lead to 18-1. Eleven of the runs scored in the inning came after two outs had been recorded. 

Shelly led the offense with four RBIs while Newman and Reynolds each had three RBIs. Julian Berinti got the pitching win.

The win gives the program its eighth Opening Round Title along with sending them to their eighth Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. Tennessee Wesleyan (46-12) garnered the three seed in the bracket and will face No. 8 seed Loyola University New Orleans on Friday, May 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET.