LEBANON, TN – No. 1 Walters State scored 30 combined runs and had 31 combined hits on Thursday in a doubleheader against Cumberland University JV, sweeping the Phoenix 9-0 and 21-2.
With the sweep, Walters State improved to 23-3 on the season.
Game One: Walters State 9, Cumberland JV 0
Walters State pieced together nine runs and 12 hits in game one on Thursday and used a solid pitching performance from Nolan Letzgus to get the victory.
Letzgus got the start for the Senators and picked up his first win of the season. Letzgus pitched five innings, allowing just one hit while striking out eight.
Luke Ferguson replaced Letzgus on the mound in the sixth and struck out two before Jacques Gillespie-Taylor struck out two in the seventh to finish things off.
At the plate, Corbin Shaw led the way for Walters State with three hits and two runs knocked in. Caleb McNeely knocked in two runs as well in the game while Cole McCallum had two hits. Home runs came from McNeely and Shaw.
After two scoreless innings to start, Walters State broke through in the third inning with two runs. Declan Wiesner started things off with a leadoff double. Dalton McLain pinch ran for Wiesner and came across to score on an error by the catcher trying to catch Caleb Marmo, who singled, stealing second. McNeely then scored Marmo with an RBI groundout.
Noah Gent made it 3-0 in the fourth with a sacrifice fly that scored McCallum and it was 5-0 after the fifth when Colby Backus doubled home McNeely and McCallum singled in Backus.
Walters State really broke the game open in the top of the seventh with four runs. McNeely started it off with a solo home run to make it 6-0. Nick Dagnello, pinch hitting for Backus, then doubled and Nick Block doubled him home. Shaw capped off the scoring with a two-run bomb that made it 9-0.
Game Two: Walters State 21, Cumberland JV 2
Walters State's offense exploded in game two of the doubleheader for 21 runs and 19 hits as they cruised to the sweep.
At the plate in game two, McNeely, Dagnello and Kruise Newman all led the way each with four runs knocked in. Newman had four hits, including two home runs, while Dagnello hit a grand slam. Other home runs in the game came from Kory Klingenbeck and Kio Lugo.
In total, nine different players drove home runs for the Senators.
On the mound, Walters State used seven pitchers to get the win. Wesley Scott, Ty Cobb, Geo Rivera, Bracken Rice, Xavier Fosbenner, Landon Crumbley and Joey Mitchell each took the mound for the Senators in the game.
The scoring started for the Senators in the first inning when McNeely walked, moved to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on a Backus sacrifice fly.
Three more runs scored for Walters State in the second as they built their lead to 4-0. Those runs came courtesy of McNeely, who singled in two runs, and McLain, who singled home one run.
Newman kept the scoring going in the third with a two-run home run after McCallum singled to start the inning. In the fourth, Walters State scored seven more times as they took a 13-0 lead. Klingenbeck knocked in the first run of the inning with a single and then scored on a balk. Following a Newman single that scored a run, Lugo hit his first career home run, a two-run shot that made it 11-0. The final two runs came on a McNeely two-RBI double.
Klingenbeck led off the fifth with his second home run of the season and then seven more runs scored again in the sixth inning. This time, Dagnello knocked in four of them with a grand slam while Marmo, Klingenbeck and Newman, who homered immediately after Dagnello's grand slam, scored the other three runs.
Up Next:
Walters State will be back in action on Saturday as they travel to take on Jackson State. The Senators will play two on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. and one on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics