No. 9 Baseball Breaks Tie to Win Game One Against CIU

COLUMBIA, S.C.- The baseball team started an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series with a win on Friday. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs beat the Columbia International University Rams 6-3. 

The teams cloned each other scorewise, scoring one run each in the first and two runs each in the third inning. The run in the first inning was scored by Ethan Wright, who scored on a failed pick-off attempt from second base. 

In the second inning, the runs for the Bulldogs came off a two-RBI double by Josh Shelly, that Allan Gil Fernandez and Reece Jordan scored on. 

The difference in the game came in the fourth and sixth innings. On a fielder's choice on Jordan's at-bat that also resulted in an error, both Brayan Espinoza and Hagen Escoto scored to break the tie, giving the team a 5-3 lead. A sacrifice fly by Jacob Tolson bringing in Kolton Reynolds was the team's run in the sixth inning.

Justin Jackson struck out five batters in the win while Koehn Thomas got the save.

The win moved the team's record to 23-8 overall and 11-2 in the AAC.