JACKSON, TN – Keaton Ray doubled twice, homered and drove in six runs on Saturday afternoon, as No. 16 Walters State picked up a 15-6 win over Jackson State.
With the victory, the Senators improved to 23-8 overall and 8-2 in TCCAA play. Walters State have now won 10 games in a row.
After recording an out his first time up in the game, Ray picked up five straight hits to end his day. Ray hit a two-run homer in the fourth, singled in the fifth, singled in a run in the sixth, doubled in three runs in the eighth and doubled in the ninth.
In his last seven games, Ray is hitting .619 with three home runs and 13 RBI.
Along with Ray on Saturday, Jarrett Martin had three hits and three RBI while Logen Sutton had three hits and two RBI.
As a team, Walters State had 19 hits.
On the mound, Karson Bonaparte (6-1) got the start and threw six innings. Bonaparte allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits while striking out seven. Luke Ferguson replaced Bonaparte in the seventh and gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits in an inning of work.
Drew Horn pitched the final two innings, allowing no hits.
Jackson State got on the board first in the game with a run in the bottom of the third, but Walters State took the lead in the fourth with three runs. Those runs came on a Ray two-run homer and a Martin RBI single.
Jackson State responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead at 4-3, but the Senators scored three in the sixth to go back in front 6-4. Sutton started the scoring with a fielder's choice that scored Deniel Ortiz. An error on the same play brought home Jack Vogele and gave Walters State the lead. The final run of the inning crossed home on an RBI single from Ray.
In the seventh, Walters State blew the game open with four more runs. Martin knocked in the first run of the inning with an RBI single that scored Ortiz to make it 7-4, and Ray made it 10-4 with a bases-clearing double.
The Green Jays cut the lead to 10-6 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Senators scored two in the eighth on RBI singles by Sutton and Miles Smith. The final three runs of the game came in the ninth inning as Nate Conner singled in Ray, Vogele singled to score Conner and Martin singled to score Vogele and make it 15-6.
Up Next:
Walters State will be back in action on Sunday against Jackson State for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics