CLEVELAND, Ga. (Feb. 1, 2020) – The Truett McConnell University baseball team swept Saturday's home opening double header (6-4, 4-0) against Milligan College at the TMU Baseball Complex, which keeps them perfect on the season with their third straight win.
GAME ONE 6-4 | EARLY LEAD
TMU came out ready at the plate to already score four runs in the bottom of the first. After Josh Johnston reached base on a walk, Mason Gaines bunted and reached first on a squeeze play for a base hit, which sent Johnston across home plate (1-0). Connor Bearden also reached base on a walk and it was Mason McLendon's single to left-center field that drove Bearden home (2-0). Freshman Devyn Munroe made his debut with a two-RBI single up the middle to immediately give the Bears a four-run cushion (4-0).
The Buffs responded with a run of their own in the top of the second (4-1), but the Bears answered with two more in the bottom half. Johnston scored again on Bearden's batted ball (5-1) and fellow senior Calob Rowland ran home on a wild pitch (6-1) to round out TMU's runs for the game.
Milligan sent a three-run home run over the left field fence at the top of the fourth with zero outs (6-4), but Brooks Rosser struck out his next batter, and freshman Jonathan Joiner made his home debut to earn his second career strike out and ground out to get the Bears out of the inning with one left on base.
LEADERS
McLendon led the offense going perfect (4-for-4), while Johnston and freshman Tanner Griffith each went 2-for-3. McLendon tallied TMU's only double of the game and Munroe led with two RBI's.
Rosser earned the win after throwing 4.2 innings of eight strikeouts, four hits and one walk. Freshman Hagan Jenkins earned his first career save after throwing the final two innings allowing zero hits, zero runs, two walks and one strikeout.
GAME TWO SHUTOUT 4-0
After a scoreless first inning, Will Ingram bunted and reached base on a squeeze play for a base hit (1-0), which scored freshman Brian Meyer. Fellow freshman Julian Galassi reached first on a defensive wild throw, which allowed Munroe and pinch runner Shane Smith to score two more for the Bears (3-0) on zero hits. TMU left three on base but Cason Brown followed up with his first three up, three down inning in the third. Although the Bears were unable to score again in third and fourth innings, Brown's fourth and fifth innings were also three up, three down.
Meyer scored the Bears' final run of the day in the bottom of the fifth after Munroe's batted ball shot off the Milligan third baseman's glove (4-0). Brown, however, stole the show with two more three up, three down innings to clinch the shutout.
LEADERS | BROWN'S ONE-HITTER
Johnston led the offense going 2-for-3, with two doubles, while Munroe, Ingram and Galassi tallied a RBI apiece.
Brown clinched his first complete game shutout of the season allowing just a single hit. The junior struck out four and walked one through seven innings. In fact, Brown's second inning was the only inning that was not three up, three down.
UP NEXT
The Bears will host Milligan on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 2:00 p.m., for the final game of the weekend series.
