No. 9 Baseball Wins Series Against CIU

COLUMBIA, S.C.- The ninth-ranked baseball team split a doubleheader against the Columbia International University Rams on Saturday. TWU fell in the first game of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) doubleheader 12-8 but won the second game 12-2 to win the series. 

Game One:

TWU took the first lead of the game on a bases-loaded walk. Hagen Escoto earned the walk that would bring in Ethan Wright. The team added to their lead in the second inning.

Back-to-back doubles helped the Bulldogs increase their lead. With Jonathan Bosque on second, David Ballenilla hit a double to score Bosque and give the team a 2-0 lead. Allan Gil Fernandez followed with the second double, bringing in Ballenilla for a 3-0 lead. The team would be trailing by the end of the second inning though as Columbia International scored five runs to take a 5-3 lead. The deficit grew to 8-3 as the opponents scored three runs between the third and fourth innings.

After a scoreless fifth inning, Tennessee Wesleyan lit up the sixth inning with four runs. The first three batters of the inning, Cody McGill, Bosque, and Wright, all earned walks. Ballenilla hit a triple to be the only person standing on base, bringing the team within two runs of the lead. Ballenilla scored on Kolton Reynolds' RBI-single, making the score 8-7 after the sixth inning.

Ballenilla's fifth RBI of the game tied the score in the seventh inning. This RBI came on a bases loaded walk when courtesy runner Michael Sime scored, tying the game 8-8. Columbia International broke the tie in the bottom of the eighth and the Bulldogs were not able to extend the game.

Game Two:

TWU broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning. Thomas Teel gave the Bulldogs their first two runs of the game in the second inning, hitting a double that brought in Brayan Espinoza and Jordan Massis. 

Ballenilla broke the tie in the third inning with a two-run home run. A bases-loaded hit by pitch on Teel brought in Fernandez and gave the team a 5-2 lead. Reece Jordan extended the lead to 7-2 with his single scoring both Kolton Reynold and Massis. McGill's walk with the bases loaded took Escoto off base while the third and fourth RBI in the inning for Ballenilla, this time off a double, scored both Bosque and Jordan, moving the lead to 10-2. 

The remaining two runs in the game came from Jordan at-bats. The first was an RBI single in the fourth inning and the second was an error on his at-bat that Espinoza would score on. 

TWU (24-9, 12-3 AAC) will be back on their home field on Tuesday for a non-conference game against Spartanburg Methodist College at 3:00 p.m.