AAC News
Thu, May 20, 2010 - [Baseball]

After the Bulldogs loss to Southern Poly, they entered the loser's bracket, but have only been winners.  The Bulldogs have defeated Indiana University Southeast, Indiana Tech, and today LSU-Shreveport.  The Bulldogs will play Southern Poly at 3:00 pm which has proved to be a difficult team for the Bulldogs this year. 

The Bulldogs played Southern Poly in their first game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round in Columbus, Georgia.  The failed to keep their lead when Southern Poly came back to score in the 8th and win the game 4-3.  Tennessee Wesleyan built a quick 3-0 lead in first. Ryan Santos led off with a home run over the left-field fence. The team's home run leader, Cody Gaskill, hit a double into deep left-center. Brad Pippa brought Gaskill home with an RBI-single. Designated hitter Andrew Tharp also drove in a run.

It held up until the eighth. Leading 3-1, a wild throw from third baseman Rafael Carlot after fielding a bunt from Southern Poly's Mason Heller opened the floodgates. Heller made it all the way to third on the error while Jake Barrow and Jono Waugh both scored to tie the game. A run-scoring single by Gary Owens broke the tie.

Brad Pippa led the team with 3 hits.  Andrew Tharp and Cody Gaskill each had a double.  Ryan Santos had a home run but also one of the 3 errors for the Bulldogs.   Hamilton Bennett pitched 7 innings with 4 runs on 7 hits while striking out 11.  Daniel Wood came in as relief in the 8th to give up no hits and no runs while striking out one. 
 
The Bulldogs played Indiana University-Southeast in their first game of the loser's bracket. The Bulldogs pulled out a 6-4 win over the Grenadiers.  IU Southeast started out scoring in the 3rd, but the Bulldogs answered in the 4th with 2 and the 5th inning with one to take the lead 3-1.  IU Southeast came back with one run in the 6th and then 2 in the 7th to go up 4-3.   The Bulldogs answered in the 7th with 3 to take back the lead 6-4.  The Bulldogs held IU-Southeast to their 4 runs to win the game.  

Cody Gaskill led the Bulldogs with 3 hits including two doubles. Max Loveland had 2 hits with one a double and one a triple. Kurtis Bramlett and Andrew Tharp also had a double.  Troy Graybill pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5. Daniel Wood came in for 2 1/3 innings of relief. He also gave up 2 runs so Max Loveland came in for the final inning.  Daniel Wood was given the win and Max Loveland the save.

The Bulldogs win over IU-Southeast advanced the Bulldogs to play Wednesday night against Indiana Tech.  The Bulldogs managed to answer the runs of the Warriors each inning in order to take the 5-3 win.  Indiana Tech scored one in the top of the 3rd, so the Bulldogs scored 2. Warriors scored one in the top of the 6th and the 7th, so the Bulldogs came back with one and then 2 runs.

The Bulldogs had a total of 12 hits with C.J. McElroy, Cody Gaskill, Brad Pippa, Andrew Tharp, and Ryan Santos all having 2 hits apiece. Santos had a triple while Gaskill had two doubles. Tharp and Max Loveland each had a double.  Matt Brennan started the game pitching 6 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 9 hits. Drew Housewright came in as relief in the 7th and was given the win, while Max Loveland finished the game to get the save. 
The Bulldogs played number one seeded LSU-Shreveport on Thursday morning. LSU-Shreveport put up the first runs on the score board with 3 in the second. The Bulldogs were able to get one in the 3rd but LSU-Shreveport put up one more in the fourth to take the lead 4-1.  The Bulldogs pulled out one run in the 6th when Rafael Carlot walked, Brad Pippa hit a double, and then Andrew Tharp grounded out to second.   In the 7th inning, the Bulldogs made it a game, when Jonathan Smith hit a double and then Cody Gaskill hit a 2 run homerun to tie the game.  Loveland hit 2nd on a dropped fly and then Rafael Carlot grounded out to advance Loveland. Brad Pippa reached on a walk, but with two outs Andrew Tharp grounded out to 2nd to end the top of the 7th in a tie, 4-4. No runs were scored in the 8th, but Johnny Smith started the 9th inning with a double.  Cody Gaskill flied out to left to advance Smith to third. Max Loveland was intentionally walked.  Rafael Carlot hit a triple to score Smith and Loveland, allowing the Bulldogs to take the lead 6-4. Kevin Smith of LSU-Shreveport started the bottom of the 9th with a homerun to close the gap, but with a groundout and two more strikeouts by Crowell the game ended 6-5, Bulldogs.

Jonathan Smith and Cody Gaskill led the Bulldogs with 3 hits each.  Matt McCracken started the game pitching 3 1/3 innings while giving up 4 runs on 7 hits. Justin Crowell came in as relief to finish the game. Crowell gave up 1 run on 4 hits to get the win.