Offensive Onslaught Helps #3 Seed Baseball Win Elimination Game

LEWISTON, Idaho- The baseball team avoided elimination at the 2025 Avista NAIA World Series on Tuesday. Third seed Tennessee Wesleyan extended their time in Lewiston, Idaho with a 17-7 win against No. 5 seed Webber International University. 

After a scoreless first inning, the Bulldogs took control of the game with back-to-back four-run innings in the second and third. 

Three singles and a home run helped TWU record the first of the four-run spots. Kolton Reynolds and Corbin Shaw had the first two singles. Brayan Espinoza had the third single of the inning, a hit Reynolds scored on to give the Bulldogs the first lead. Cody McGill blasted a ball over the scoreboard in right field to tally the remaining three runs the four-run inning.

Devin Dixon made it back-to-back home runs as his hit to open the third inning pushed Tennessee Wesleyan ahead 5-0. Daniel Stewart followed with a single while a walk by Reynolds put courtesy-runner Jonathan Bosque on second. The base-runners were not on base for long as Shaw smacked a pitch over the left field wall for the second home run of the inning and the second three-run home run of the game. 

After a run by Webber International in the fourth inning, the Bulldogs scored seven runs in the fifth inning. All the runs came across home plate before the first out of the inning was recorded. Jack Stevens started the inning with a hit by pitch while Espinoza and McGill loaded the bases with a walk. Kruise Newman made it three consecutive walks, keeping the bases loaded and starting a rally of four consecutive scoring plays with Stevens scoring on the walk. A single to left field by Josh Shelly emptied two of the bases as Espinoza and McGill both scored to move the lead to 11-1 and invoke the run-rule. 

A single through the right side of the infield by Dixon pushed each runner forward, with Newman scoring, and a fielding error on the hit helped Shelly move to third while a throwing error gave Dixon the time to get to second. A single by Stewart moved the lead to 14-1 as both Shelly and Dixon scored on the hit. Stevens' second time at the plate in the inning resulted in a run as his single brought in courtesy-runner Bosque to make the score 15-1 at the end of the fifth. 

The opponents scored five runs over the sixth and seventh innings to put the run-rule out of play. The Bulldogs did not give up the lead though in the remaining innings as the team scored a run on a Shelly fielder's choice in the eighth and Stewart hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to propel the team to keep the team alive in the World Series with their ten-run win.

McGill, Shelly, and Shaw each had three RBIs while Dixon and Stewart had two RBIs. Espinoza, Newman, and Stevens had an RBI each. Justin Jackson got the pitching win, striking out six batters on the mound.

Tennessee Wesleyan (48-13) will be back in action at the World Series on Wednesday. The team will face the losing team from the game between No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett College and No. 6 Southeastern University in an elimination game. The game is set to start at 6:00 p.m. ET.