Tennessee Wesleyan Walks-Off Into Championship Game
LEWISTON, Idaho – The 67th Annual NAIA World Series has had many record broken in the first 17 games, but Game 18 was the first to end on a walk off hit. In the bottom of the 11th, the Bulldogs outlast their Appalachian Athletic Conference opponent and bring the season series to 3-3 with none bigger than tonight. Tennessee Wesleyan will face No. 4 Hope International (Calif.) (44-16) for the Red Banner.
No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan (46-16) defeats No. 5 Reinhardt (Ga.) (42-19), 3-2 (11 inn.)
In the first two innings, Reinhardt left two runners on the bases while Tennessee Wesleyan went three up, three down both times
The Eagles got scoring started in the top of the third with L Dockery belting a monster shot to left field
TWU had their first base runner reach in the bottom of the third, but it took until their next at-bat when Cayle Webster singled to right field scoring Evan Magill
During the fifth and sixth innings, the two Appalachian Athletic Conference teams combined for only one base runner
Reinhardt broke the tied score with a center field single by Matty Maurer which scored Sam Kilgore
During the top of the eighth, RU had runners on first and second with no outs; a pitching change to Carter Gannaway was the trick as he recorded a strikeout swinging and Webster recorded a double play to end the inning
Andrew Herbert, after a mound visit, got a key groundout to the short stop to keep the Eagles on top 2-1
The ninth inning began with a Magill double to right center, bouncing just over the outstretched glove of the RU second baseman
With two outs punched, Daniel Stewart singled to center which brought Magill home and tied the game at 2-2, pushing the game into extra innings
TWU got themselves out of a jam, turning a double play to close out the top of the 10th
Kruise Newman hit the game winning single to left field, scoring Magill – who plated all three runs in the game
Jake Sergent (W, 5-2) earns the decision for the last 2.2 innings of work, but Blake Peyton was the workhouse going seven full innings and striking out seven
Herbert pitched a gem in the loss (L, 11-2) throwing 132 pitches and striking out 10 batters
The three Eagles hits were all by different batter’s with Lance Dockery and Maurer recording RBI as well
Magill was 2-4 in the box with three runs scored while Newman and Stewart also tallied a pair of hits
This is the second game of the World Series to go extra innings, both going 11 innings
COVERAGE
The Championship Games will be streamed exclusively through ESPN3.