WSBB: No. 12 Senators win opener vs. Southwest Tennessee

The 12th ranked Walters State Senators moved a step closer to next weekend’s TCCAA-NJCAA Region VII Tournament in Gallatin with a mercy rule victory over Southwest Tennessee Friday afternoon.

The Senators opened their best-of-three series with a convincing 12-2 victory over the Saluqis in seven innings at Senator Field to move within a win of next weekend’s five-game tournament at Volunteer State.

With the win, Walters State also reached the 40-win plateau for the 13th time in the last 15 years, as they are now 40-13 on the year.

The loss dropped the Saluqis to 12-26 on the season, and they are a loss away from seeing their season come to an end.

Brycen Roberts smacked three hits in the win to lead Walters State, and he added a pair of RBIs for the Senators. Austin Norrell, Dylan Powers, Jake Farr and Michael Smith each had two hits, with Norrell tagging his 18th double of the season and Smith driving in three runs. Norrell, Powers, Farr and James Fowlkes each drove in a run as well.

Vince Hoyt had two hits and Dimitri Villanueva added a double in the defeat.

Brent Honeywell (10-3) picked up the victory for the Senators after tossing a complete game and allowing just two earned runs on six hits while striking out nine and walking one in seven innings of work.

Zack Buzzard took the loss in relief, as he allowed three runs – two earned – on three hits in 1.2 innings. The Saluqis used eight different pitchers in the loss.

The Saluqis struck first in the top of the third inning for a run, but the Senators rallied for three in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

Southwest added another run in the fourth, but WSCC added two runs in each of the next three innings and three more runs in the seventh to bring the game to an end. Roberts had an RBI infield single with the bases loaded to end the game.

The second game of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. A third game, if necessary, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.