Ninth-Inning Comeback Attempt Falls Short for No. 2 Baseball
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#3 Georgia Gwinnett | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 1 |
|
Tennessee Wesleyan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 5 |
ATHENS, Tenn.- A showdown between two top teams occurred in Athens Insurance Stadium on Tuesday. The second-ranked baseball team hosted the No. 3 ranked Georgia Gwinnett College Grizzlies. A comeback at that end by the Bulldogs fell short though as they fell 9-8.
A solo home run by Chris Catalano in the bottom of the first inning helped the Bulldogs take the first lead. Georgia Gwinnett tied the game in the second inning and went ahead 3-1 in the third inning.
In the fourth inning, TWU cut the lead down to a single run through Kolton Reynolds' solo home run. Georgia Gwinnett was able to move their lead to 6-2 before the Bulldogs could pull closer in the fifth inning. By the end of the eighth inning, Tennessee Wesleyan had pulled back within one run.
The sixth inning saw Daniel Stewart open with a single to center field. A ground out and a wild pitch moved courtesy runner Jonathan Bosque to third. A ground out resulted in an RBI for Jack Stevens as Bosque scored to make the score 6-3. Shaw cut the lead down to two runs with a solo home run and recorded his second RBI of the game in the eighth inning. With Reynolds on second after a fielder's choice and Kruise Newman's single, Shaw hit a double to give the lead baserunner the chance to score.
An eventful ninth inning saw the Bulldogs head into the bottom half of the ninth trailing 9-5. Nick Collins opened the bottom of the ninth with a single which was followed by Catalano's double. An error allowed Josh Shelly to reach base and Collings to score, bringing Tennessee Wesleyan within three runs of tying the game. Stewart earned a walk to load the bases. A hit by pitch kept the bases loaded as Reynolds moved to first and Catalano made the trot to home plate, moving the score to 9-7. Shelly scored on a double play to cut the deficit to one run but the team was not able to tie the game before the final out was recorded to fall by one run.
Shaw and Reynolds both finished the game with two RBIs while Catalano, Shelly, and Stevens all had one RBI.
TWU (24-8) will return to the field at Athens Insurance Stadium on Friday to open a three-game conference series against Milligan University. The game is set to begin at 3:00 p.m.