LEWISTON, Idaho – [SCHEDULE | BRACKET] The 67th Annual NAIA World Series has had many record broken in the first 17 games, but Game 18 was the first to end on a walk off hit. In the bottom of the 11th, the Bulldogs outlast their Appalachian Athletic Conference opponent and bring the season series to 3-3 with none bigger than tonight. Tennessee Wesleyan will face No. 4 Hope International (Calif.) (44-16) for the Red Banner.
No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan (46-16) defeats No. 5 Reinhardt (Ga.) (42-19), 3-2 (11 inn.)
- In the first two innings, Reinhardt left two runners on the bases while Tennessee Wesleyan went three up, three down both times
- The Eagles got scoring started in the top of the third with L Dockery belting a monster shot to left field
- TWU had their first base runner reach in the bottom of the third, but it took until their next at-bat when Cayle Webster singled to right field scoring Evan Magill
- During the fifth and sixth innings, the two Appalachian Athletic Conference teams combined for only one base runner
- Reinhardt broke the tied score with a center field single by Matty Maurer which scored Sam Kilgore
- During the top of the eighth, RU had runners on first and second with no outs; a pitching change to Carter Gannaway was the trick as he recorded a strikeout swinging and Webster recorded a double play to end the inning
- Andrew Herbert, after a mound visit, got a key groundout to the short stop to keep the Eagles on top 2-1
- The ninth inning began with a Magill double to right center, bouncing just over the outstretched glove of the RU second baseman
- With two outs punched, Daniel Stewart singled to center which brought Magill home and tied the game at 2-2, pushing the game into extra innings
- TWU got themselves out of a jam, turning a double play to close out the top of the 10th
- Kruise Newman hit the game winning single to left field, scoring Magill – who plated all three runs in the game
- Jake Sergent (W, 5-2) earns the decision for the last 2.2 innings of work, but Blake Peyton was the workhouse going seven full innings and striking out seven
- Herbert pitched a gem in the loss (L, 11-2) throwing 132 pitches and striking out 10 batters
- The three Eagles hits were all by different batter’s with Lance Dockery and Maurer recording RBI as well
- Magill was 2-4 in the box with three runs scored while Newman and Stewart also tallied a pair of hits
- This is the second game of the World Series to go extra innings, both going 11 innings
COVERAGE
The Championship Games will be streamed exclusively through ESPN3.