Walters State’s Jay Gause (27) winds and delivers a pitch to a Motlow State batter Saturday, at Senator Field.
The 12th ranked Walters State Senators used a late rally in the opening game and an offensive onslaught in the second game to sweep visiting Motlow State at Senator Field in Tennessee Community College Athletic Association action.
The Senators trailed in both games but rallied to win both, as they pulled off a 5-3 win in the opening game before rolling to a 13-4 victory in the series finale.
With the wins, Walters State sweeps the three-game series and improves to 16-6 on the year and 5-1 in TCCAA play. The losses drop the Bucks to 11-10 overall and 1-5 in league action.
“It sure is nice to get three wins and sweep this series against an improved Motlow team,” Senators coach Ken Campbell said. “It didn’t quite work out like that for us last weekend, but when you get the chance to sweep a team in this league, you have to do it. I’m proud of our guys. This is a great sweep.”
In the nightcap, Walters State scored in all but one inning in rolling to a big win. The Senators pushed two across in the first, three in the third, a single run in the fourth, four more in the fifth and three in the sixth to total 13 runs.
Reid Mathews continued his torrid streak with a two-run homer in the first inning, but WSCC trailed 4-2 going to the bottom of the third. The Senators got an RBI double from Elijah Sutherland and an RBI triple from Mathews before he scored on a wild pitch to give Walters State a 5-4 lead.
In the fourth, Sutherland plated Jake Farr with a single, and the Senators added to the lead in the fifth. After loading the bases with no outs, Dustin Woody drove in a pair with a single and Matt Harrell added a two-run base hit to make it 10-4.
Walters State put it away with a pair of homers in the sixth. Jared Allen led off the inning with a home run and Colin Bennett smacked a two-run shot for the final runs of the game.
Senators starting pitcher Jay Gause survived a rocky start in the first two innings and only allowed two base runners in the last five innings to get the win over Chevis Hoover of Motlow.
“Gause gave us some strong innings after the first two,” Campbell said. “Once he gets going, he is tough to hit, and he did great in the last few innings today.”
In the opening game, the Senators rallied from a three-run deficit with four runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to pick up the win.
After four scoreless innings, the Bucks plated three unearned runs in the top of the fifth on an error and a pair of hits to chase Walters State starting pitcher Josh Peterson. Zach Walton recorded the third out of the frame to keep it 3-0.
The Senators rallied in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. Sutherland and Allen sandwiched a Mathews single with a pair of walks to load the bases, and a run scored when Shane Riley reached on an error. Bennett added an RBI single and Austin Norrell tagged a two-run base hit to put Walters State on top 4-3.
Walton held the Bucks scoreless in the sixth, and the offense added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning. Chris Hipchen singled and moved to third on an error, and Harrell drove him home with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3.
Tyler Brosius worked the seventh and closed out the win for Walters State on the mound.
Walton got the win after working 1.1 scoreless innings, and Brosius got the save. Andrew Mullendore took the loss in relief of Josh Hopkins.
The Senators will return to action Friday when they travel to Millington to take on Southwest Tennessee in a TCCAA showdown. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
- By Matt Daniels, Tribune Sports Editor
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