MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — Walters State head baseball coach David Shelton had not been happy with his team's offensive performance so far this season, encouraging his offense to heat up as they headed into their first home conference series of the season.
Message received.
No. 20 Walters State put up 12 runs in the second inning against Jackson State and never looked back, taking the opening game of the series, 17-5, in seven innings on Saturday afternoon at Ken Campbell Field.
"Every time you crank up a conference series, you like to get on the board early," Shelton said. "We squandered an opportunity in the first with the bases loaded, but the second inning was good. We had a lot of guys get hits and had much better approaches at the plate."
Walters State improves to 17-7 on the season and 3-1 in TCCAA play with the win. The Senators improved their winning streak to four games. Jackson State falls to 3-10 on the season with the loss.
In all, 16 batters came to the plate for Walters State in the second inning as the Senators pieced together nine hits and 12 runs. Seth Gardner started off the scoring, belting a two-run home run, his first of the year, over the fence in center to make it a 2-1 game.
The Senators loaded the bases after the home run and scored three more on three straight hits from Bryce Hodge, Matthew Ellis and Braydon Runion. The lead was 7-1 after a fielder's choice, and then two straight singles from Parker Stinnett and Jerry Hammons scored three more. The scoring finally capped off after a Hodge double scored two.
"Sometimes, when we haven't practiced and been on the field a lot, we tend to get a little uphill on our swings and pop a lot of balls up," Shelton said. "Maybe the extra practice time this week, getting on the field some, helped us. Hopefully that got us started and heated up a little bit."
The runs kept coming with Runion mashing a solo home run in the third and Paul Moore hitting a pinch hit 2-run home run in the fourth. The Senators got two more in the bottom of the sixth on a single from Hodge.
Hodge led the team with five RBIs and three hits. Runion had two hits and two RBIs while Caleb McNeely, Stinnett and Gardner each had two hits.
Andrew Lindsey (4-1) got the start for Walters State on the mound, his sixth of the season. Lindsey gave up a home run in the second, but was able to limit the damage to just that, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the third with a strikeout. Lindsey threw three innings, striking out three.
Tanner Smith replaced Lindsey in the fourth, throwing 1.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out two. Matt Dailey replaced Smith in the fifth with one out and the bases loaded. Dailey finished the game off, going 2.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out three.
"(Andrew) Lindsey didn't have his best stuff today," Shelton said. "He was kind of out of whack, so it was good to be able to get him out of there early and keep him rested. I'd like to see our other two guys throw more strikes when they come in. It's a little different pitching in a 13, 14 run lead as opposed to a one run lead. They're young, though, so hopefully they'll continue to get better."
NEXT UP
Walters State and Jackson State will be back in action for the final two games of the series on Sunday. First pitch of game one is set for noon with game two to follow 30 minutes later.
"We can't go to sleep tomorrow," Shelton said. "Jackson is a dangerous team. The wind is going to be blowing out tomorrow, and they're built for that. We just can't have a lull and fall asleep because we won today by a lot."