By Noah Lones
East/West Challenge
The Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs started off the season ranked number one in the nation and traveled to Florida for the East/West Challenge that included five ranked teams out of the eight that were competing.
The Bulldogs started off the East/West Challenge defeating #24 British Columbia 9-6 on day one of the tournament.
The next game came against #10 ranked Arizona Christian where the Bulldogs won a close one 4-3. Catcher Daniel Stewart had an amazing day at the plate going 3-4 while batting in 4 RBIs. He also had a double, triple, and a home run in the game.
Next, the Bulldogs found themselves in a rematch of the NAIA World Series Championship against #2 Hope International. The Bulldogs were out for vengeance in this matchup as they had lost to Hope International in the National Championship. In this rematch, Tennessee Wesleyan came out on top in a very close game 5-4.
In the last game of the tournament for the Bulldogs, they faced off against another top 10 opponent in #7 Lewis-Clark State. They dropped this game 10-3 and finished off the East/West challenge 3-1 with three ranked wins, two of them being against top 10 opponents.
Rough Schedule
Tennessee Wesleyan have played in six ranked matchups and two ranked series matchups, with five of the matchups being in the top 10 and one of the series being a top 10 series showdown.
In this stretch of ranked matchups, the Bulldogs have posted a 10-3 record against these ranked opponents, outscoring them 91-68.
Conference Play
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start in conference play. They started off by winning their first three series and only losing one game in that stretch including a series sweep of #6 ranked Reinhardt.
Tennessee Wesleyan then hit a little rough patch in their schedule. They dropped their series to conference opponents and rivals, Johnson and Bryan. Rough stretches of pitching plagued the Bulldogs in these series.
The Bulldogs lost three games in a row with losses to teams including Bryan, #3 ranked Georgia Gwinnett, and Milligan.
After losing the first game in the series against Milligan in extra innings, Tennessee Wesleyan came out the next day looking to prove a point and show why they were still one of the top teams in the nation. They took the last two games against Milligan and showed elite pitching and hitting in both of these games.
In their latest conference series against Truett-McConnell, the Bulldogs got the series sweep in electric fashion. They hit a two-run walk-off homerun in the first game to take the first game 15-14. The next day they played a double header to finish out the series and won both games. They won the first game 23-5 and the second game 5-4.
The Bulldogs currently sit at second in the conference standings behind Johnson.
Rest of the Season
Tennessee Wesleyan has 12 more games left and two more conference series. One of these last 12 games comes against another top 10 opponent in #9 ranked University of the Cumberlands.
The last two conference series against St. Andrews and Union Commonwealth are shaping up to be very important in regard to the conference tournament since the top three teams in the conference are so close to each other.
The Bulldogs have dominated the Appalachian Athletic Conference and have been at the top of the standings for well over a decade.
They are looking to continue their dominance in the conference tournament as they have won 14 conference tournament championships over the last 18 years.
Graphic by Dakota Caldwell
Editorial Assistance by Gabe Katz
Photo by Noah Lones
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