No. 2 Baseball Hurt by Bryan

DAYTON, Tenn.- The baseball team returned to the diamond on Friday. The team opened a three-game Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series against their rivals, the Bryan College Lions, with a single game in which they fell 14-12. 

The first runs of the game were scored by the opponents in the second inning. Tennessee Wesleyan got on the board in the third inning. Kruise Newman started the scoring with a solo home run and Daniel Stewart copied the home run way of scoring, bringing in two runs as Chris Catalano also scored. The bottom of the third saw Bryan score three more runs though, moving their lead to 7-3. 

The four-run deficit did not last long as the Bulldogs scored eight unanswered runs, two coming in the fourth inning. Josh Shelly opened the inning with a single and moved to second on Edwin Toribio's walk. With the bases loaded after Corbin Shaw's single, Jack Stevens saw his flyout turn into a sacrifice fly as Shelly made the quick run to home plate. Newman followed with a single to load the bases again and Catalano made it two sacrifice flies in the inning with Toribio scoring from third, making the score 7-5 after the inning ended.

In the fifth inning, TWU took the lead. After singles by Stewart and Kolton Reynolds, Shelly came to the plate and hit a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners a base. Toribio hit a single that allowed courtesy-runner Jonathan Bosque to score. The score changed to 9-7 when Shaw his second home run of the game, a three-run shot over the right field wall. Toribio got in on the home run action, hitting a two-run bomb in the sixth inning to move the lead to 11-7. The lead did not last for the Bulldogs though as Bryan scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game 11-11.

The eighth inning saw more scoreboard action. With the bases loaded by Reynolds, Shelly, and Shaw, a walk by Nick Collins brought Reynolds home to break the tie. Unfortunately, the opponents scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 14-12 lead they used to win the game.

Shaw and Toribio both had three RBIs in the game.

The series will conclude when the Bulldogs (23-6, 12-4 AAC) play a doubleheader against the Lions on Saturday. The first game of the doubleheader is set for 1:00 p.m.