MORRISTOWN, TN - Keaton Ray made the most of his three at-bats on Saturday afternoon.
Taking on Highland Community College, Ray hit two home runs in the second inning of game one and a grand slam in the third inning. No. 5 Walters State went on to win 17-4 in five innings and 11-1 in game two in five innings.
With the sweep, the Senators improved to 11-6 on the season.
GAME ONE: No. 5 Walters State 17, Highland Community College 4 (5 Innings)
In game one, Ray was unstoppable with three homers in three at bats and eight RBI. Ray hit a 3-run homer in the second, hit a solo homer later in the second and then hit a grand slam in the third inning.
Along with Ray, Deniel Ortiz hit a home run and drove in three runs. Andrew Grande had two hits and three RBI, as well.
On the mound, Karson Bonaparte (3-1) got the start and threw three innings. Bonaparte gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits and struck out three.
Nate Conner replaced Bonaparte in the fourth and threw a scoreless inning, before Miles Smith finished it in the fifth with a clean inning.
It was Highland who got the scoring started in the game with a three-run homer in the top of the second. However, Walters State answered back with 13 runs in the bottom half of the inning, bringing 16 batters to the plate. Grande started the scoring with an RBI single, before Ray crushed a three-run homer to make it 4-3. Following a Logen Sutton sacrifice fly, Grande singled two home to make it 7-3.
Ortiz was next up, and he made it 10-3 with a three-run bomb. Ray followed up with a solo homer of his own, before Zion Taylor doubled in a run and Jack Vogele doubled home Taylor to make it 14-3.
Highland got one more run in the third, but Ray hit his third homer of the day in the bottom half of the inning, a grand slam to make it 17-4.
GAME TWO: No. 5 Walters State 11, Highland Community College 1 (5 Innings)
In game two, the Senators had 14 hits and Manning West pitched four solid innings on the mound to secure the doubleheader sweep.
West (2-0) gave up just three hits in his outing and one unearned run. He struck out six. Taz Butler replaced West in the fifth and threw a scoreless inning, striking out two.
At the plate, Smith and Ortiz had two doubles apiece while Nate Conner had three hits and three RBI. Ortiz and Walker Morgan drove in two runs each, as well.
Walters State got the scoring going in the first, as Ortiz doubled home Smith to make it 1-0. Highland tied the game in the top of the second, but Walters State took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning with three runs. Those runs came on a Jack Torbett RBI single and a Conner two-RBI single that made it 4-1.
In the fourth, Walters State added four more runs as Conner singled home Smith, Ortiz doubled home Conner, Morgan grounded out to score Ortiz and Cade Hitson singled home a run to make it 8-1.
Walters State concluded the scoring with three runs in the fifth. Sutton got things started with an RBI single, before Brantley Bamberg doubled him home and Morgan singled in Zion Taylor to make it 11-1.
Up Next:
Walters State will be back in action on Tuesday at USC Union. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics