No. 2 Baseball Wins Offensive Battle Against Cumberland

LEBANON, Tenn.- A game full of runs was won by the second-ranked baseball team on Tuesday. TWU beat the Cumberland University Phoenix 16-13 on the road. There was only one inning where the teams did not score a run in the offense-loaded game.

After two innings, the game was tied 3-3. TWU scored their three runs in the second inning. Edwin Toribio began the inning with a double, and moved to third on a Josh Shelly ground out. A hit by pitch put on Jack Stevens put runners on the corners before a single by Kruise Newman made Toribio the first run. Corbin Shaw, who finished the game with seven RBIs, hit a double to get Stevens home and Newman to the other corner. A sacrifice bunt by Kurtis Reid tied the game when Newman scored. 

The third inning saw the Bulldogs take the lead. The bases quickly became loaded with Toribio and Shelly hitting singles and Stevens getting on with a hit by pitch. Newman recorded a second RBI as Toribio scored on his single. Shaw cleared the bases, hitting a ball over the center field wall for a grand slam, moving the team's lead to 8-3. Cumberland scored three runs in the bottom of the third.

After a scoreless fourth inning, the teams matched runs through the fifth and eighth innings. Shelly was one of the runs, scoring on a Shaw single in the fifth inning. A three-run sixth inning for Tennessee Wesleyan occurred when Shelly hit a home run, scoring base runners Toribio and Jonathan Bosque. 

The seventh and eighth innings only saw the teams exchange one run with each other. Shaw had the team's run in the seventh inning in the form of a solo home run while Newman's RBI single in the eighth inning brought in Shelly. The score read 14-12 in favor of the Bulldogs entering the ninth inning.

In the final inning, Daniel Stewart hit a two-run home run, bringing Devin Dixon to help the team walk off the field with a 16-13 win.

Shaw led the team with seven RBIs while Newman and Shelly both had three RBIs. Stewart finished with two RBIs. Christian Delashmit was credited with the win while Daniel Davila picked up his seventh save of the season.

TWU (20-5) will return home for a conference series against Kentucky Christian University. The first game of the three-game series is set for Thursday at 3:30 p.m.