Rome, GA – Despite a ninth inning rally, the Warriors fell to the Shorter Hawks on Tuesday afternoon in a 6-5 final score.

The Warriors tallied eight hits with Cam Mitchem leading the team with two hits.  Mitchem went on to hit his ninth home run of the season and lead the team with two RBIs.  The other RBIs came off the bats of Marty Grisso, Justin Purdom and TJ Highsmith.  Southern Wesleyan walked five times and both Grisso and Purdom stole bases.

Jacob Webb started on the mound for Southern Wesleyan and pitched two innings.  Eight Warriors came in to pitch in relief.  Jack Dennison and Gehrig Schreiber had the lone strikeouts of the game.

Game Vitals

Final: Shorter 6, Southern Wesleyan 5

Records: Southern Wesleyan (6-30) Shorter (18-14) 

How It Happened

The Warriors went on the attack early in the game as Cam Mitchem came up to bat in the top of the first inning and hit his ninth home run of the season to give Southern Wesleyan the lead.

The lead was short lived as Shorter tied the game in the bottom of the first and then took a 2-1 run lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Southern Wesleyan struck again in the top of the third inning.  Derek Francis led off the inning by being hit by a pitch and then advanced to second when Clay Porter hit a single to third base.  A balk then allowed both runners to advance a base.  Gage Shaver walked to load up the bases.  With the bases loaded and one out, Marty Grisso put the ball in play and then reached first on an error by the third baseman.  Shaver and Porter advanced to second and third, and Francis came in to score on the play to tie the game up.  Justin Purdom then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Porter in to score and give the Warriors a 3-2 run lead.

The Hawks pushed back as they scored in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

The Warriors were not done as they challenged in the top of the ninth inning.  Jason Culley led off with a walk and then advanced to second base when Jarrett Whitley struck out swinging.  A single by Chase Gribble put runners on the corners.  TJ Highsmith hit a single to center field to bring Culley in and allowed Gribble to advance to second.  With two out and two on, Cam Mitchem hit a single to right field to bring Gribble in to score and put Southern Wesleyan within one run of Shorter.  However, the Warriors were unable to bring in the final run as they dropped the game to the Hawks in a 6-5 final score.

What's Next

Southern Wesleyan will resume Conference Carolinas action on April 5-6 as they travel up to Mount Olive, NC to take on the University of Mount Olive Trojans.  They will then host the Lander Bearcats on April 10.  The Warriors host the Young Harris Mountain Lions on April 12-13.  Saturday, April 13 will be the Warriors annual Military Appreciation Day.