No. 1 Walters State collects 19 hits in win over Southwest Virginia

MORRISTOWN, TN – No. 1 Walters State improved their win streak to 20 games on Wednesday afternoon with a 19-4 win over Southwest Virginia. 

With the victory, the Senators improved to 40-3 on the season. 

Morristown native Kyle Lewis got the start on the mound for the Senators, throwing the first inning. He allowed two unearned runs on two hits while striking out one in his collegiate debut. 

For Lewis, Wednesday was a moment that he's been patiently waiting on. 

"It was great," Lewis said. "The adrenaline was there. It was a moment I've been waiting on for a long time. Being from here, it meant a lot for it to be here. My changeup was really good today. I had one bad pitch, but other than that, I felt great." 

This is Lewis' second year with the program, making the squad after redshirting last season. Wild on the mound when he arrived at Walters State last season, Lewis feels like that spot has been his biggest improvement. 

"My consistency has gotten a lot better," Lewis said. "Just being able to stay in the zone consistently. When I got here, I was wild and all over the place. That's what I've really worked on." 

Along with Lewis, seven other pitchers saw action in the game. Jacques Gillespie-Taylor pitched the second inning and picked up the win with Cooper Morgan, Xavier Fosbenner, Bracken Rice, Ty Cobb, Sebastian Fugate and Joey Mitchell finishing things off. 

Rice, for the second straight midweek game, stood out from the rest as he struck out the side once again in his inning of work. Fosbenner struck out two in his inning of work while Morgan, Fugate, Mitchell and Rice didn't allow hits. 

At the plate, Kruise Newman was a triple away from the cycle as he smacked his 11th home run of the season to go along with two RBIs. 

Newman has worked his way into the starting lineup over the past few weeks and has made the most of his opportunities. 

"I've just been getting in the cages and hitting with coach (Mark Allen) Bounds to try and work on my craft," Newman said. "I've just been trying to keep it simple in the box. If you try and do too much or you press too hard, you're not going to hit the ball. But if you relax, good things happen. I'm just starting to figure it out and so are my teammates." 

Along with Newman, Colby Backus had a four-hit day, hitting a home run and knocking in two runs. Nick Block also got in on the fun with a grand slam while Dalton McLain and Caleb McNeely each hit home runs as well. 

Following Southwest Virginia's two runs in the first, McNeely quickly cut the lead to one with a leadoff home run way over the fence in center. It was his 17th of the season. 

The Senators then took the lead in the second with four runs. Declan Wiesner got the scoring going with an RBI groundout before a wild pitch scored Andrew Ott. Newman capped off the scoring in the inning with a two-run bomb that made it 5-2. It was his 11th home run of the season. 

"I think it was a fastball about numbers high," Newman said. "I just told myself to sit back and go get number 11."

Following a run in the top of the fourth by Southwest Virginia, the Senators added five more runs in the bottom half. Jack Sutton doubled home two runs to start the scoring, and Block followed with an RBI single. The inning was once again capped off with a two-run homer, this one by McLain. 

Backus added two more runs in the fifth with a moonshot to center before Cole McCallum hit a sacrifice fly and Kory Klingenbeck tripled in two runs to make it 15-3.

Walters State's scoring was capped off in the sixth as Block blasted a grand slam.

Up Next:

Walters State will be back in action on Friday, traveling to take on Cleveland State. It will be a doubleheader on Friday with first pitch set for 1 p.m.

For Newman, he feels that this offensive outburst on Wednesday will be a momentum boost for the Senators lineup moving into the weekend and moving forward. 

"I think that we're going to come into our next game knowing that we are hitters," Newman said. "We have a lot of guys with a lot of power. I think these next few weekends will be really big for us, facing some good competition. I think we are ready for the challenge." 

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics