LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 23-ranked Indiana Tech baseball fell to No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan, 11-3, on Saturday afternoon in their second game of the Avista NAIA World Series at Harris Field on the campus of Lewis-Clark State College.
The Bulldogs took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning with two doubles, a triple and a two-home run as they recorded six hits in the inning to get into the Warrior bullpen. Tennessee Wesleyan proceeded to score a run in the next six consecutive innings to build their lead while TWU starter Cole Bellair kept the Tech offense off-balance all day, striking out seven batters and scattering seven hits over seven innings of one-run ball.
The Warriors got the first two men on base in the fifth trailing just 7-0, but left both runners stranded.
Glen McClain put the Orange and Black on the board in the sixth with his 18
th home run of the season on a 0-1 count over the left center field wall.
Tech got some momentum going in the ninth as
Jake DeFries led off the inning with a double while pinch-hitter
Grant Heisinger drew a four-pitch walk two batters later. Pinch-hitter
Taylor Nychyk laced a single to right center to make it an 11-2 game while
Jacob Daftari drove in Heisinger in a pinch-hit appearance with a fielder's choice that turned the lineup over, but the Bulldogs ended the threat with a strikeout to send the Warriors into the elimination bracket.
Spencer McGhee went 2-4 with a pair of batteries while
Dan Shaw struck out three batters in two innings of relief work.
Tech (42-15-1) will take on No. 1-ranked and third-seeded Southeastern University in an elimination game on Monday, Memorial Day, May 27 at 11:30 a.m. PDT/2:30 p.m. EDT from Harris Field.
