Central, SC – The Warriors split the opening games of the series against the King Tornado on Friday. After dropping game one in an 11-8 final score, Southern Wesleyan took down the Tornado in game two in a 13-10 final.
Southern Wesleyan totaled 10 hits in the first game of the evening. Tristan Tillman led the Warriors as he went 3 for 5 at the plate. Both Nolan Evatt and Josh Long had two hits in the game. Evatt, Kade Bowling and Luke Taylor each doubled in the loss. Tillman went on to lead the team with three RBIs. The Warriors walked seven times and were hit by pitches three times. Tillman, Evatt and Perry Dyer each picked up stolen bases. Tanner Lewis started on the mound and pitched three innings while striking out four batters. Benjamin Applebee, Mason Clark and Matthew White each came in to pitch in relief. Applebee and White each struck out three batters.
The Warriors collected 10 hits in the second game of the series with both Kade Bowling and Matthew McCaffrey going 2 for 4 at the plate. Bowling doubled twice, Ethan Shimmel tripled and Samuel Simonds picked up his second home run of the season. Bowling and Shimmel each had three RBIs in the game. Southern Wesleyan walked nine times and two players were hit by pitches. The Warriors were active on the bases as they stole 11 bases in the game. Nolan Evatt led the team with three stolen bases. Evatt was followed by Tristan Tillman, Shimmel and McCaffrey with two steals each. Logan Brazell started the game on the mound and struck out two batters while pitching four innings. Gavin Kent, Luke Weldon and Nick Gonsalves came in to pitch in relief. Gonsalves struck out three batters to claim the save.
Game Vitals
Game One Final: King 11, Southern Wesleyan 8
Game Two Final: Southern Wesleyan 13, King 10
Records: Southern Wesleyan (4-9 / CC 1-4) King (4-8 / CC 2-3)
How It Happened
Game One
The Tornado went on the offensive early as Richardson hit a three run home run to center field and then Ruiz got in an RBI single to give King a 4-0 run lead in the first inning.
Southern Wesleyan cut into the Tornado lead in the bottom of the first inning. Tristan Tillman led off by hitting a single through the left side and then stole second. A pop up by Nolan Evatt allowed Tillman to advance to third base. With Tillman ninety feet from home plate, Ethan Shimmel ground out to first to allow Tillman to come in to score.
Janney led off the top of the second inning by hitting a solo home run to give King a 5-1 run lead.
The Warriors challenged again in the bottom of the second inning. Josh Long led off by hitting a single to center field and then advanced to second as Matthew McCaffrey walked. With two outs, Luke Taylor sent the ball down the left field line for a double to allow Long to come in to score.
In the top of the fourth inning, King extended their lead once again as Janney collected his second home run of the game and then Vidal hit a sacrifice fly out to center field.
King pressed on as a solo home run by Regan allowed them to extend their lead to 9-2 in the sixth.
Southern Wesleyan struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Kade Bowling walked and then advanced to second as Matthew McCaffrey was hit by a pitch. Samuel Simonds came in to pinch hit for Seth Pettett and then reached on an error by the third baseman to load up the bases. With two outs and the bases full of Warriors, Tristan Tillman came up to bat and hit the ball into shallow center field for a single that allowed both Bowling and McCaffrey to come in to score.
The Warriors continued to chip away at the Tornado lead as they plated a couple more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Ethan Shimmel was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Shimmel then advanced to second as Perry Dyer drove the ball up the middle for a single. With one out and two on, Kade Bowling hit the ball down the right field line right past the first baseman for a double that allowed Shimmel to cross home plate and put Dyer on third. Matthew McCaffrey hit a sacrifice fly out to left field to bring Dyer in to score and put the Warriors behind the Tornado 9-6.
Southern Wesleyan cut King's lead down to two in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, Tristan Tillman singled to left field and then advanced to third as Nolan Evatt sent the ball into right center field for a double. Ethan Shimel was then intentionally walked to load up the bases for Perry Dyer. Dyer hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Tillman to come in to score.
King brought two more runs in to score in the top of the ninth inning to extend their lead to 10-7.
The Warriors challenged in the bottom of the inning. Kade Bowling and Matthew McCaffrey reached on back-to-back walks. With two on, Beau Berge came in to pinch hit for Ryan Postnieks and was then hit by a pitch to load up the bases. Tristan Tillman ground out to third to bring Bowling in to score. However, the Warriors could not stop the Tornado as King walked away with an 11-8 run victory.
Game Two
Southern Wesleyan came out swinging in game two of the evening. Tristan Tillman led off the inning by hitting a single into left field. Tillman then stole second base to get into scoring position. Ethan Shimmel put the ball into play, but an error by the second baseman allowed him to reach first. Tillman came in to score on the play to give the Warriors a 1-0 run lead. Samuel Simonds came up to the plate and drilled the ball 396 feet over the left field fence to put the Warriors on top 3-0.
King answered in the top of the second inning as an error at first base allowed Nuno to come in to score.
The Warriors were not down as they brought in a couple more runs across home plate in the bottom of the third inning. Josh Long walked to give the Warriors their first base runner of the inning. Kade Bowling came up to the plate and drilled the ball off the center field fence for a double that allowed Long to come in to score. With a newly energized Warriors bench, Matthew McCaffrey came up to the plate and hit a single down the right field line that allowed Bowling to come in to score and give the Warriors a 5-1 run lead.
The Tornado plated a couple more runs in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Warriors lead down to two.
However, the Warriors answered in the bottom of the inning. Ethan Shimmel led off with a walk and then advanced to second as Samuel Simonds walked. Luke Taylor came in to run for Simonds, and then all the runners advanced as Perry Dyer walked. With the bases full of Warriors and one out, Kade Bowling drilled the ball into left field for a double that brought both Shimmel and Taylor in to score. Matthew McCaffrey followed with a single that brought Dyer in. Ryan Postnieks came up to the plate and got in a single of his own to allow Bowling to come in to score to give the Warriors a six run lead over the Tornado. Both McCaffrey and Postnieks stole a base to put both in scoring position and bring Tristan Tillman up to bat. Tillman hit into a fielder's choice that took McCaffrey off the bases, however on the next play Nolan Evatt got in a single to bring Postnieks in to score the Warriors tenth run of the game. Evatt stole second to put two runners in scoring position once again. Ethan Shimmel came up for his second at bat of the inning and got the ball over the center fielder's head for a bases clearing triple. Luke Taylor followed by hitting a single to score Shimmel and give the Warriors a 13-3 run lead over King.
King fought back as they brought seven runs in to score in top of the sixth inning with four coming from a grand slam by Hirschfel.
Nick Gonsalves came in to close out the seven inning game for the Warriors. Gonsalves struck out the side to pick up the save as the Warriors claimed the second game of the series in a 13-10 final score.
What's Next
Southern Wesleyan will wrap up the series against the King Tornado on February 21 with a 2pm first pitch. The Warriors will then travel for a mid-week game against the Anderson Trojans at 4pm on February 24. They will then return to Dr. C Keith Connor Field on February 27-28 as they host the UNC Pembroke Braves.
