Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Kentucky Wesleyan was eliminated from the G-MAC tournament on Friday evening in Mason, Ohio. The Panthers fought off elimination in the first game with a 10-8 comeback victory over Ohio Valley, but the Panthers fell short in the second game to Trevecca 7-2.
 
Elimination round vs. Ohio Valley

Kentucky Wesleyan got things rolling right from the start with three runs on three hits in the top half of the first.

Troy Paris smacked a double to centerfield, which scored Cody Bridges from second.  The next batter, Adam Brown, hit a sacrifice fly to right centerfield. Nathan Stemle tagged up to score from third base for the 2-0 early lead. Andrew Kirkland continued the inning with an RBI single to right, and Paris scored easily from second.

The Fighting Scots quickly responded with two runs in the bottom of the first off. One was scored off an RBI triple down the right field line, and the other on an RBI groundout.

In the third, Adam Brown crushed a two-run homerun to left to extend the Panthers' lead to 5-2.

Once again, Ohio Valley would not go away. The Fighting Scots scored three runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game up even at 5-5.

In the top of the fifth, Troy Paris recorded his second double of the day, and put Stemle and himself in scoring position, but KWC was unable to re-take the lead that inning.

OVU's offense had another big inning in the bottom of the fifth. The Fighting Scots took their first lead with a two-run RBI double to give them a 7-5 advantage.  
Two innings later, the Fighting Scots added another run off an RBI double for an 8-5 lead.

Andrew Kirkland gave Kentucky Wesleyan life in the top of the eighth, and started the comeback rally. Kirkland smashed an RBI double in the gap, which brought home Adam Brown from first base to cut the lead to 8-6. Tyler Shewmaker then singled to put runners at the corners for Jeremy Cline. Cline doubled to left, and Kirkland scored to make it a one-run game.

Cody Bridges hit a shot in the gap near the wall, and KWC scored two runs on an RBI triple for a 9-8 lead. Bridges then scored off a sacrifice fly to make it 10-8.
Kentucky Wesleyan shut down OVU in the final two innings.

Bridges, Kirkland, and Paris each collected two hits in the contest. Brown finished with a team-high three RBI's.

Nate Verst pitched the first 2.2 innings of the game. Spencer Otto came in for relief for the next 1.2 innings.

The Panthers made another pitching change in the bottom of the fifth, as Evan Mohr took the mound. Mohr threw the next 2.2 innings of play, before Ryan Hundley came in to close the game out.
 
Elimination round vs. Trevecca

The Panthers had swept a doubleheader at Trevecca the last time that the two teams met in the final day of the regular season.

This time, after little rest, Kentucky Wesleyan had to stave off elimination against the Trojans for a chance to go the G-MAC final. Trevecca jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but KWC scored a run in the bottom of the third off an RBI single from Troy Paris.

TNU would find more offense in the top of the fourth, and pushed their lead out to 5-1 putting the Panthers in a hole.

Adam Brown connected on his second homerun of the day in the bottom of the fourth, to cut the deficit down to 5-2.

The Trojans would score one run apiece in the fifth and eighth innings for their other two runs in the contest.

Kentucky Wesleyan had a couple of opportunities to close the gap, but fell short. In the seventh inning, the Panthers had the bases loaded. Kentucky Wesleyan ended up stranding 10 runners on base throughout the contest.

Austin Tibbs started the game, and was given the loss. Tibbs struck out four in five innings of work. Andrew Moralez pitched the remainder of the game, and struck out three batters.

Nathan Stemle led KWC's offense with a 4-5 performance from the plate. All four of Stemle's hits were singles. Troy Paris and Seth Campbell both collected two hits.

Kentucky Wesleyan's season comes to a close with a final overall record of 36-17.