Wesleyan baseball one win away from USAS Tournament repeat

The North Carolina Wesleyan University baseball team is one win away from repeating as USA South Conference Tournament champions and advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Tyson Bass smashed his 18th and 19th home runs of the year and Cord Butler worked seven solid innings on the mound for his 11th victory as the top-seeded Bishops (32-11) defeated Brevard 8-3 Friday night in Game One of the USAS Tournament Championship Series at Bauer Field.

Butler (11-0) pitched seven innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs with 10 strikeouts and four walks for Wesleyan. Dylan Cheeley added two strong frames in relief, allowing just one hit while striking out four of the seven batters he faced.

The No. 2 seed Tornados took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Wesleyan used a sacrifice fly from Jackson Hobbs to tie it in the bottom half of the inning. Davie Morgan’s single to centerfield plated Blake Scott to make it 2-1.

Coleson Miller’s solo home run in the top of the second inning tied it at 2-all, but the Bishops took the lead for good on a three-run homer by Bass to left centerfield, his 18th of the season.

The home team added to its lead in the third when Maison Nance was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in Scott for a 6-2 advantage.

An RBI single from Logan Clark got Brevard to within three (6-3) in the fifth, but Bass answered with his second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the sixth after Drifton Padgett’s double, to extend the Bishops’ lead to five runs.

Bass and Padgett led Wesleyan with two hits each while Scott (double), Morgan and Jaiden Barker provided the other hits.

C.P. Pyle, Clark and Miller each had two hits for Brevard (22-18).

Wesleyan goes for the sweep and the tournament championship at 2 p.m. today (Saturday) at Bauer Field. Game Three, if necessary, would be played at 5 p.m.