CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – The No.11-ranked IU Southeast baseball team fell to No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan 10-9 and 17-1 on Friday.
In game one, the Grenadiers came back from a 7-1 deficit in the second inning and had the bases loaded and go-ahead run at first base before the rally was cut short in the bottom of the ninth.
Tennessee Wesleyan (5-0) jumped out to a 6-0 lead with a six-run first inning. Gary Mattis hit a two-run home run and Shamoy Christopher hit a three-run blast to account for five of the six run in the opening frame.
Brody Tanksley led off the second inning with a home run to left-center for his second home run of the season, but Mattis hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the inning to restore the six-run lead.
IU Southeast (3-2) struck for three runs in the top of the third when Clay Woeste hit a three-run home run, his first of the year, to left center. Daunte DeCello and Santrel Farmer got the rally started with back-to-back singles.
Clay Woeste grounded out to second in the top of the fourth to score DeCello who had reached on an error. In the fifth, Matt Monahan led of the inning with his first home run of the year to center to cut the deficit to 8-6.
The Grenadiers cut the lead to one when John Ullom scored on a fielder's choice, but the Bulldogs answered with runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 10-7 lead to the ninth.
Singles by Tanksley, Berenda and DeCello loaded the bases with two outs. John Ullom scored on an error by the shortstop Gary Mattis. Then Austin Wise drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to one. A flyout to center by Marco Romero ended the threat.
Jared Jones (1-1) took the loss for the Grenadiers. Brody Tanksley was 4-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, Daunte DeCello had two hits and scored twice, Santrel Farmer went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI and Ben Berenda had two hits. Clay Woeste drove in five in the loss.
In game two, the Bulldogs jumped out to an 8-0 lead after four innings. Austin Wise had a RBI single to get the Grenadiers on the board. Tenessee Wesleyan answered with five runs in the fifth and four in the sixth to put the game away.
Robert Gonzalez got the win and Trevor Reynolds took the loss for IU Southeast.
The series concludes Saturday at 2 p.m. at the LakePoint Baseball Complex.
