Baseball defeated by No. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan in AAC doubleheader

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (March 4, 2023) – The Milligan University baseball team dropped an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) doubleheader against No. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan on Sunday. The Buffs fell 9-0 in game one and 6-3 in extra innings in game two.

The Buffs fall to 10-8 on the year and 2-6 in AAC play. TWU moves to 15-1, 8-0 AAC.

Game 1 – Tennessee Wesleyan 9, Milligan 0

The Buffs hung with the Bulldogs early as starting pitcher Jimmy Gamboa escaped an early jam with three straight strikeouts after TWU loaded the bases with nobody out to start the game.

The Bulldogs scored twice in the third and once in the fifth to lead 3-0. The Buffs managed just one hit the first two times through the batting order with Andrew Mathias notching a two-out single in the third.

The Buffs put a pair of runners on with two outs in the fifth but were not able to break through with a hit.

The Bulldogs plated three runs in the sixth and eighth innings to grow their edge to 9-0.

Gamboa allowed three runs in 4.1 innings and struck out 10 on the day. The Buffs used five different pitchers. Josh Topper tossed a scoreless 1.1 innings to finish the game for Milligan.

Game 2 – Tennessee Wesleyan 6, Milligan 3 (8 innings)

TWU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning in game two. The Buffs responded with a run in the bottom of the first when Casey Haire singled home Brandon Marello.

Austin Maxey entered the game on the mound for the Buffs in the top of the second inning and held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard and without a hit for the next four innings.

The Buffs trimmed the margin to 3-2 in the third inning. Caleb Berry reached on a fielders choice, stole second and third base and scored on a groundout off the bat of Braden Spano.

Milligan had runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the fourth but a squeeze bunt ended in an out at the plate as the Bulldogs escaped the inning with their lead intact.

The Bulldogs opened the sixth with back-to-back walks before Chance Hall struck out three of the next four batters to close the inning without surrendering a run.

Haire walked to open the home half of the sixth and advance to second on a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Molinari brought Haire home with a base hit to center field to tie the game 3-3.

Hall worked a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts but the Buffs could not score in the bottom of the seventh in the scheduled seven-inning game.

TWU scored three unearned runs thanks to two errors in the top of the eighth and the Bulldogs held on for the 6-3 victory.

Molinari had two of Milligan's seven hits and drove in one of the Buffs' runs. Spano and Haire each had one RBI.

The Buffs and Bulldogs finish their AAC series tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.