#2 BASEBALL DROPS DOUBLEHEADER TO UNION COLLEGE

Recap, photo courtesy of TWU

Barbourville, Ky.- The baseball team, ranked #2 in the NAIA, jumped back into Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) with a road trip to Barbourville, Ky. Rain caused the series against the Union College Bulldogs to be postponed from its original date, but the teams got on the field on Sunday for a doubleheader.

Game 1:

The game did not start the best for Tennessee Wesleyan as Union held a 7-0 lead through three innings. The Bulldogs gained a couple of runs back in the fourth which began with Dan Fry's triple. An error on Braden Mosley's hit scored Fry and a two-run homer by Shamoy Christopher made the score 7-3 when Mosley scored with Christopher. The home Bulldogs added two runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a six-run advantage.

The fifth inning saw TWU pull within one run of the lead. Max Draijer started the inning with a triple and the bases became loaded on walks by Tyler Reichenborn and Jhosmel Rodriquez. A second triple by Dan Fry cleared the bases, leaving Fry on third. Mosley scored Fry again, this time via a home run. The bottom half of the fifth saw Union score three runs to extend their lead to 12-8.

The teams traded runs in the seventh and eighth inning, with the Bulldogs of Tennessee Wesleyan's run coming on an Aloysius Cruz RBI-single which scored Fry in the seventh. With the score 13-9 in favor of the home team, a Chase Fullington single scoring Mosley and a fielder's choice off Draijer's hit which scored Manny Perez was not enough to bring the Bulldogs back, going on to fall 13-11.

Fry and Mosley both finished with three runs and three RBIs for TWU. Irving Martin got the start on the mound while Jesse Philp and Kolton Vermillion came in in relief.

Game 2:

Whereas the first game was high scoring, the second game was a defensive battle. The blue and white Bulldogs made the first strike though.

In the first inning, Malik Stephens' walk was followed by a Rodriquez single, and the bases became loaded on a Fry bunt-single. Alex Flock's single scored Stephens to give the team a 1-0 lead. Rodriquez made it a two-run advantage with his score off Mosley's single, but a double-play ended the rest of the scoring opportunities for Tennessee Wesleyan.

Two home runs would be the only scores after the first inning. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the homers went to the side of the home team to give them a 3-2 lead to begin the seventh inning. The bottom of the seventh saw TWU get the tying run on base in the form of Stephens, getting into scoring position on second base via a stolen base. Two straight outs though ended the game and gave Union the 3-2 win.

The 1-7 hitters (Stephens, Rodriquez, Fry, Cruz, Flock, Mosley, and Fullington) all had one hit for the Bulldogs. Jack Granath started the game for the team while Gavin Roberson pitched in relief.

The losses move Tennessee Wesleyan's record to 18-4 overall and 2-2 in the AAC.