No. 1 Baseball Splits Doubleheader Against No. 17 IU Southeast

ATHENS, Tenn.- The baseball team, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, played their first home game of the season on Friday. The team hosted the No. 17 Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers in a doubleheader as a start to a four-game series  ending the day with a split.

Game One:

After three innings, the Bulldogs found themselves in a 2-1 hole. Josh Shelly gave TWU their first run in the bottom half of the third, hitting a single that brought in Kruise Newman. The Bulldogs forced a lead change in the sixth inning.

With Shelly on base after a double, Devin Dixon hit a home run to push Tennessee Wesleyan ahead 3-2 at the end of the sixth inning. In the next inning, Newman blasted a solo home run to push the team's lead to two runs. 

The team got to their winning score of 8-2 with four runs in the eighth inning. Daniel Stewart started in the scoring with a double that brought in Jonathan Bosque while Jack Stevens brought Hagen Escoto in with a sacrifice fly. Newman hit his second home run of the game, bringing in Chris Catalano to give the team their six-run win.

Justin Jackson struck out six batters in 5.2 innings. while Christian Delashmit picked up the win while striking out three batters in 2.1 innings pitched.

Game Two:

Similiar to the first game, the Bulldogs found themselves in a deficit after four innings. Unlike the first game, the team was unable to complete a comeback.

Trailing 3-0, Stewart had a ground out RBI when Dixon went across home plate on the contact. The remaining runs for TWU came on solo home runs by Shelly and Cody McGill in the sixth inning, but the Bulldogs fell 6-3.

Tennessee Wesleyan (4-2) finishes out the series with the visitors on Saturday with a doubleheader.