#2 Baseball Gets Past Spring Arbor 7-2

Lakeland, Fla.- Originally set to play two games on Tuesday, the rain in Lakeland, Fla. forced multiple changes to the schedule of the baseball team. The final change resulted in the Bulldogs only playing one game on the day. The newly-minted #2 Tennessee Wesleyan took on the Spring Arbor University Cougars.

The Bulldogs, playing the game as the visitors, loaded the bases pretty quickly as Bryce Giles, Tyler Reichenborn and Dan Fry all got on via walks. Giles would be the only score though, coming on an Aloysius Cruz fielder's choice to give TWU a 1-0 lead after one inning.

The score remained 1-0 for the Bulldogs until the fifth inning. Giles led off the inning with a single up the middle and made his way to second via a stolen base. A balk placed Giles on third and runners soon sat on the corners when Fry earned his second walk. Giles scored his second run of the game on an RBI-groundout by Cruz and an Anthony Williams double scored Fry to give Tennessee Wesleyan a 3-0 lead.

Four more runs in the sixth inning gave the team a comfortable cushion. It started with a Shamoy Christopher hit by pitch. Malik Stephens, pinch-running for Christopher, made it to second base on a wild pitch. After a sacrifice bunt by Jhosmel Rodriquez put Stephens on third, Giles gave the Bulldogs another scoring opportunities with his walk. Reichenborn scored Stephens with his single to make the score 4-1. Fry laid down a bunt and made it to base before the throw, loading the bases with Giles and Reichenborn already on. Williams second hit of the game allowed Giles to score while the possibility for more damage remained with the bases loaded. A single by Mosley added another tally to TWU's score with Reichenborn scoring. The fourth and final run came across and gave the Bulldogs a 7-1 lead when Adrian Marquez reached base via a walk, forcing Fry home. Spring Arbor added one more run in the bottom of the sixth, but it was not enough to keep Tennessee Wesleyan from getting the win by a score of 7-2.

Giles led the way at the plate, finishing 2-3 with three runs scored. Cruz and Williams both finished with two RBIs. Manny Perez struck out eight batters in 4.2 innings while picking up the win for the Bulldogs.