No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan scores three unearned to hold off No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.)

2022 NAIA Avista-NAIA World Series – Game Nine Recap

No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan scores three unearned to hold off No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.)

FINAL SCORE

No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan (55-7) def. No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.) (49-13), 3-2 | Box Score

Tennessee Wesleyan advances to play Tuesday at either 1:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. CST in either Game 13 or 14 (elimination) against an opponent to be determined by the games committee

Bellevue (Neb.) has been eliminated from World Series play

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

This is the second all-time meeting between the two programs, both of which have occurred at the World Series and also on Memorial Day (2016)
Tennessee Wesleyan plated the first run of the contest on an outfield single by Braxton Turner
The damage was significantly reduced as Bruin catcher Brenton Davis tagged two runners out at the plate
In response, Bellevue put runners on second and third with no outs, but the next three batters recorded two strikeouts and a fly to left field
Across the next five full innings, the teams combined for five total hits and five times where their at-bats were limited to three in the frame
The Bulldogs improved their 1-0 lead on a RBI sacrifice fly from Carson Ford but stranded two runners in scoring position
Tennessee Wesleyan kept with the same script as they moved to a 3-0 margin after Turner’s center field no-doubter
In the bottom of the eighth, the Bruins woke up from their slumber on Alec Ackerman’s two-run blast his 19th of the season
Despite a trio of errors being committed by the Bulldogs, Bellevue was unable to take advantage of them in any of the three circumstances
Trailing 3-2, BU had three outs remaining to try and score the equalizer
TWU escaped with a one run victory even though they outhit the opposition 11-4
Evan Magill was the offensive star for the Bulldogs going 3-4 followed by Turner and Chad Picton who were each 2-4
The four hits recorded by Bellevue were all by different players as
Bellevue pitcher Blake Crippen tossed an 11 hit complete game allowing two earned runs and striking out four in his 37 batters faced
TWU starter Robert Gonzales controlled the mound to the tune of 102 pitches for 7.1 innings with six strikeouts and the two earned runs
Liam Doolan took over in the ninth inning for the save opportunity and struck out two batters before the game ended on a flyout