Justin Bell homers twice, picks up win on the mound over Southwest Virginia

MORRISTOWN, TN – Justin Bell hit two home runs, drove in seven runs and picked up the win on the mound Tuesday, as No. 16 Walters State closed the regular season with a 15-4 win over Southwest Virginia in seven innings. 

With the win, the Senators closed the regular season at 46-10 and have won their last 10 games. 

Bell (2-0)  got the start on the mound and threw three innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out one. Logan Quales replaced Bell in the fourth and struck out one in a clean inning, and Lorenzo Atwell threw two scoreless innings and struck out two. Dakota Crumbley pitched the final inning and struck out one. 

Along with Bell at the plate, Hayden Blair, Braeden Trajkovski and Davis Peralta all homered. Blair drove in four runs, while Trajkovski had two RBIs. 

Southwest Virginia got on the board first, scoring two runs in the opening inning, but Bell helped his cause in the bottom of the inning, smashing a three-run home run for the lead. 

Southwest Virginia briefly took the lead back in the top of the second with two runs, but Walters State answered back with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Brady Dalton and Bridger Hamilton were hit by pitches to open things, and Holden Pantier walked to load the bases. Blair and Drew Blalock then walked to bring home two runs, and Bell followed with a grand slam to make it 9-4. 

In the third, Walters State picked up three more runs when Dalton reached on an error, Pantier singled and Blair hit his 24th home run of the season to make it 12-4. The final three runs of the game came in the sixth inning when Trajkovski hit a two-run home run and Peralta smacked a solo shot that made it 15-4. 

Up Next:

Walters State opens up postseason play on Wednesday, May 6, at 10 am CT in the TCCAA/Region 7 Tournament. The Senators are the No. 1 seed.