No. 9 Baseball Wins Midweek Against Cumberland

ATHENS, Tenn.- The baseball team exploded for 16 runs on Wednesday. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs beat the Cumberland University Phoenix 16-6 in seven innings. 

TWU started the scoring in the first inning. A sacrifice fly by Brayan Espinoza brought in the first run of the day with a sacrifice fly scoring David Ballenilla. Hagen Escoto followed, giving the team a 3-0 lead when his single brought in both Kolton Reynolds and Allan Gil Fernandez. A second sacrifice fly, this time by Reynolds, added to the lead when Ballenilla scored on it in the third inning. 

The Bulldogs scored five runs in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Cody McGill scored on an error off Ethan Wright's hit. Ballenilla moved every runner a base with a single, bringing in courtesy runner Jonatha Bosque. A hit by pitch kept the bases loaded and scored Reece Jordan. Back-to-back sacrifce flys by Reynolds and Espinoza moved the team's lead to 9-0 as Wright and Ballenilla scored on them. 

The fifth sacrifice fly of the game for Tennessee Wesleyan started the scoring in a three-run sixth inning. Ballenilla hit the sac fly that brought in Jordan while Fernandez followed with a single that scored Wright. A fielder's choice on Escoto's hit pushed the lead to 12-0 with Fernandez scoring.

The game took a small detour when Cumberland scored six runs in the top of the seventh. The Bulldogs scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to re-invoke the run rule. Wright was responsible for three of the runs, hitting a three-run home run and Escoto ended the game with an RBI-single scoring Bosque. 

Escoto led the team with four RBIs. Colton Brumley got the pitching win.

TWU (22-8) will go on the road this weekend for a conference series against Columbia International University. The first game of the three-game series is on Friday at 5:00 p.m.