No. 5 Baseball Beat Blue Mountain Christian

ATHENS, Tenn.- The baseball team won their third straight game by virtue of the run-rule on Saturday. The fifth-ranked Bulldogs closed out the weekend with a 12-2 win in seven innings against the Blue Mountain Christian University Toppers. 

Allan Gil Fernandez gave the team an early lead when his single resulted in an error, giving Ethan Wright the opportunity to score in the first inning. Standing on third after the error, Fernandez scored on a Josh Shelly sacrifice fly, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead at the end of the inning.

TWU scored two more runs over the next two innings. The run in the second inning came from Reece Jordan, who got on base with a walk and stole both second and third, scoring on Thomas Teel's sacrifice fly. Shelly put the team up 4-0 in the third inning, hitting a triple to get on base and scoring on a passed ball.  

After a run by Blue Mountain Christian, Tennessee Wesleyan recorded back-to-back four-run innings in the fifth and sixth innings.

With the bases loaded in the fifth inning by Wright, Fernandez, and Kolton Reynolds, a walk by Shelly brought Wright to home plate. A throwing error on David Ballenilla's contact got the batter to second while Fernandez and Reynolds both scored, and Shelly got to third. Shelly became the final run of the inning, scoring on a Rob Gordon groundout to make the score 8-1. 

A clone of the fifth inning occurred in the sixth inning as Wright, Fernandez, and Reynolds all stood on base. This time, Shelly would be the only person left standing on base after his at-bat, hitting a double that all three base-runners scored on, invoking the run-rule as the score moved to 11-1. A wild pitch moved Shelly to third, and a single by Ballenilla gave the team an 11-run advantage when Shelly trotted home. Blue Mountain Christian added a run in the top of the seventh but did not pull closer. 

Shelly led the offense by bringing in five runs, while Ballenilla, Gordon, and Teel each brought in one run.

Justin Jackson got the win on the mound, striking out eight batters in six innings. 

TWU (7-0) will play their first road game of the season on Tuesday when they face Spartanburg Methodist College at 3:00 p.m.