A pair of two-run home runs by Shamoy Christopher with an Anthony Williams grand slam in between propelled the No. 1-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan baseball team to a 15-9 win over fifth seed Georgia Gwinnett on Monday in the Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. TWU’s Bulldogs (54-9) will play in the winners-bracket final Tuesday – it’s scheduled for 10 p.m. EDT – against the victor in Monday’s late game between No. 2 seed Science and Arts from Oklahoma and No. 6 seed St. Thomas from Florida. Georgia Gwinnett scored the first three runs (in the second inning) and the last six (in the eighth) in Monday’s game against Wesleyan, which scored the 15 in between. Christopher followed a two-out Max Draijer single in the fourth inning with his first homer, and an inning later the Bulldogs got two-out walks by Dan Fry and Bryce Giles before an error loaded the bases for Williams’ slam that made the score 6-3. Aloysius Cruz made it 7-3 with a double after Christopher’s leadoff hit in the sixth. Christopher followed a one-out Draijer single with another homer in the seventh, and Fry added a two-run double and Adrian Marquez a pinch-hit two-run single. Christopher was 3-for-4 with the four RBIs, and Tyler Reichenborn was 3-for-6 with two runs and an RBI. Jhosmel Rodriquez matched Draijer with two hits and two runs, and TWU starting pitcher Irving Martin struck out six batters in his 5 2/3 innings. Designated hitter Nick Barnes was 2-for-4 with a grand slam in defeat for the Grizzlies.
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* The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic department is expanding its Fan Council and accepting applications for six additional volunteers to fill two-year terms. The deadline is June 7, and details are available at GoMocs.com or at Andrew-Horton@utc.edu or 425-5285. The current 12-member group is entering its second year of providing “feedback and guidance in the areas of external operations, as it relates to fan experience and gameday enhancements,” according to a school release last week. Council members are students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and ticket-buyers. “The feedback and information we have received from the first year of the Fan Council has been tremendous,” UTC vice chancellor and athletic director Mark Wharton said in the release. “The current group has provided invaluable information that has helped shape a lot of our planning and decision-making as we move forward into the 2019-20 competition season.”