Baseball's late effort, not enough to win slugfest against #21 William Carey
WEST POINT, Ga. (March 8, 2023) – The Point University baseball team played a home non-conference game on Wednesday against #21 William Carey (MS) and would fall 21-16 in a slugfest.
The game had a football feel with such a high scoring affair in the midweek matchup that saw the #21 team in the country, William Carey travel to West Point to take on our (RV) Skyhawks. The matchup was not for the pitcher loving fans, as each pitching staff would combine for 37 runs, 31 hits, 20 walks and 5 hit by pitches. The game would take 4 hours and 15 minutes to complete.
The Crusaders would get the scoring started in the first inning with five runs. The Skyhawks would answer back with four runs of their own on the bat of Slade Mink when he would hit a grand slam to make it 5-4 after one inning. Both teams would score one run in the second inning to make it a 6-5 ballgame. The Crusaders would put up a "touchdown and field goal" 10 run spot in the top of the third to make it 16-5. Kaleb Podger would hit a 2 RBI single in the bottom of the third to score JR Curley and Sam Baker to make it 16-7. After a solo home run by the Crusaders to make it 17-8 in the sixth, the Skyhawks would put up five runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 17-11. The bottom of the sixth scoring started with Jhamante Woods doubling to center field that would score Slade Mink. Zeb Baird would then single to center field to score Woods. Chase Tolbert would hit an RBI double that would score Zeb Baird. Sam Baker would hit a sac fly to score Noah Watkins. Finally, JR Curley would score on an error by the shortstop. The Crusaders would score two runs in the seventh and two more runs in the ninth to make it 21-12. Even though the game may have seem out of reach, the Skyhawks would get a lift from Woods' 2 run homer that would make it 21-14 (only needing a touchdown and two point conversion to win). The Skyhawks would add two more runs when Chase Tolbert would extend the inning on an error by the first baseman that would score Noah Watkins and Zeb Baird to make it a 21-16 game. Sam Baker would fly out to left field to end the game, but the Skyhawks didn't go down without a fight. The Crusaders would take the 21-16 midweek victory and head back home to Hattiesburg, MS.
On the Mound
The Skyhawks would send seven pitchers to the mound in the midweek game. The staff would give up 19 earned runs on 17 hits, walking 9, hitting 3 batters and striking out five.
NAIA RANKINGS
Coming into March 8, the Skyhawks would receive votes (RV) for the NAIA Top 25 and would rank third in the AAC conference. Tennessee Wesleyan would be ranked at #2 in the NAIA Top 25 Poll.
Next Game
The baseball team will head to Cleveland, Ga. to play a three game AAC conference series starting on Friday, March 10 at 4:00 P.M. against Truett- McConnell. Games 2 and 3 will be on Saturday, March 11 with the first pitch of the doubleheader being at 12:00 P.M.
