Bolton’s walk-off hit wins Fall World Series for Team Navy
A back and forth Fall World Series for Carson-Newman baseball ended with Team Navy securing a walk-off win thanks to the bat of Ryan Bolton in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A back and forth Fall World Series for Carson-Newman baseball ended with Team Navy securing a walk-off win thanks to the bat of Ryan Bolton in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
Team Navy got a 1-2-3 top of the first inning from sophomore pitcher Christian Henderson and would waste no time gaining an early lead. In the bottom of the inning, Braxton Smith and Johno Pierce both recorded hits to put runners on first and third. Logan Floyd would score Smith on a RBI fielder's choice and it was 1-0 Team Navy.
Pierce would record his second hit in as many at-bats, roping a line drive double into left center field to score Ryan Bolton and extend Navy's lead to 2-0 after three innings.
Henderson was terrific on the mound in the first three innings for Team Navy. He faced the minimum through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the top of the fourth inning. As he did yesterday, Seth Benner delivered another big hit for Team Orange. With two outs in the inning, the graduate student crushed his second home run of the World Series over the left field wall to level the score at 2.
Team Orange would take its first lead in the top of the 5th inning without recording a hit in the frame. 3 freebies and two fielding errors led to two runs scoring and Team Orange led 4-2 after five innings.
Sebastian Rodriguez delivered a big swing for Team Navy to start the bottom of the sixth. His solo home run brought the deficit down to 1.
Kylan Hornbuckle would tie the game for Team Navy in the bottom of the seventh. His sac fly to right field leveled the score with two outs in the inning. Harrison Shelton would limit the damage and force extra innings for the second straight game.
With extra innings going into effect, the international tiebreaker rule came into play placing a runner on second base for each team in each half inning.
McCain Mangum would pitch a scoreless top of the eighth for Team Navy. After a sac bunt, he recorded a strikeout and a groundout to blank the Orange offense.
A walk and a hit by pitch would load the bases for the Navy team with nobody out in the bottom of the eighth. Ryan Bolton wasted no time, sending the first pitch into the outfield to score Trace Alexander and win the series for Team Navy.
Mangum was great out of the Navy bullpen to earn the win. He pitched three scoreless innings and allowed just one baserunner.
Brock Culpepper started for Orange and gave his team three innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts. Denver Slifka pitched 2 2/3 innings and struck out two, while Harrison Shelton recorded four outs, two of which came by strikeout.
Not only did Team Navy win the series, it also won the run differential which mattered as well. Navy outscored Orange 23-17 in the five-game series.
