Baseball Wins 16th AAC Tournament Title

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- Tennessee Wesleyan played for a championship on Saturday. The second-seeded Bulldogs faced the No. 1 seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament, the Reinhardt University Eagles. A 4-2 score gave TWU their 16th AAC Tournament Title. 

Neither offense was able to make a dent on the scoreboard through the first three innings, with Daniel Batcher playing spoiler to the Reinhardt offense. Corbin Shaw changed that in the fourth inning.

The bottom of the fourth inning opened with a Kolton Reynolds double. Shaw came to the plate and bashed a ball over the left field wall for a two-run home run and a 2-0 lead. 

After a run in the top of the sixth cut the lead in half, Kruise Newman extended the lead. Jack Stevens became the first base runner with a single. Devin Dixon hit a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Stevens stood on third after the error. Newman took advantage of the mistake and hit a single that both Stevens and Dixon would score on. The opponents added a run in the eighth but Christian Delashmit came in and closed out the game.

Batcher finished the game with six strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Delashmit was credited with a save. Shawn and Newman both finished with two RBIs.

Shaw was named the Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Daniel Stewart, Reynolds, Brayan Espinoza, and Blake Peyton. 

This is the 23rd season the Bulldogs (42-11)  have won the AAC Regular Season or Tournament Title.

As one of the two teams in the championship game, Tennessee Wesleyan gets an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round. This will be the 15th straight season the Bulldogs have qualified for the Opening Round. The bracket and location for TWU will be announced on Wednesday.