10th-ranked Senators grab 24-5 win over Southwest Virginia

JOHNSON CITY, TN – No. 10 Walters State picked up a 24-5 win in seven innings on Tuesday afternoon against Southwest Virginia.

With the victory, the Senators improved to 37-10 on the season. 

Andrew Grande returned to the lineup and led the way for Walters State at the plate, totaling five hits and driving in three runs. Deniel Ortiz, Kurtis Reid, Nate Conner and Jack Torbett all homered. 

On the mound, Jonny Stevens (2-1) got the start and the win, throwing two innings. He allowed one unearned run on one hit and struck out two. After Miles Smith pitched the third, giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits, Matthew Porchas struck out the side in the fourth. 

Walker Morgan was next in line and threw the fifth inning, allowing one run on one hit while striking out two, before Drew Horn struck out one in the sixth. Aiden Robertson closed things out with a scoreless seventh, striking out two. 

The Senators got on the board first in the game, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Logen Sutton hit a sacrifice fly to score one, and Grande doubled two home to make it 3-0.

Southwest Virginia picked up a run in the bottom of the first, but Walters State scored five times in the second to go up 8-1. Torbett started things with a solo homer, his first of the season, and Sutton scored one with an RBI double. Conner drove home the last three runs of the inning with a three-run home run. 

In the third, Walters State scored three more times as Carson Cabbage scored on a wild pitch and Ortiz smoked a two-run home run that made it 11-1. Southwest Virginia got three runs in the third to make it 11-4, but Walters State scored four in the top of the fourth on a Cabbage sacrifice fly, a wild pitch that scored Taylor Harris and a two-run home run by Reid that made it 15-4.

The fifth inning was more of the same for the Senators, as six runs scored to make it 21-4. Those runs came on an error, a sacrifice fly from Harris, another error, a wild pitch, a Reid RBI double and a Keaton Ray RBI single. 

Southwest Virginia scored one final time in the fifth, before Walters State scored three runs in the seventh to close things out. Ray started things with an RBI single, and Bamberg followed with an RBI triple. Grande doubled home Bamberg for the final run that made it 24-5. 

Up Next:

Walters State will be back in action on Wednesday, hosting Montreat College JV for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. 

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics