Bucs Belt Five Home Runs; Sweep NW Shoals

MUSCLE SHOALS - No. 8 ranked Shelton State belted five home runs in its sweep of Northwest Shoals in Thursday afternoon's double header at Mark Lee Legacy Field.

Sophomore DH Mason Steele and freshman RF Jackson Henderson hit back-to-back home runs in a 7-run fifth inning that lifted the Bucs to a 12-5 win in the opener.

Sophomore LF Trenton Shirley and sophomore 3B Brady Waugh belted back-to-back homers in a four-run first inning in the Bucs 6-2 win in game two. Henderson added a solo home run in the seventh inning, his second homer of the day.

Henderson finished the day 4-for-9 with one double, two home runs and four RBIs.

Waugh went 4-for-7 with two doubles, one home run and three RBIs.

Shirley went 4-for-8 with a home run and four RBIs.

Steele reached base five times and extended his on-base streak to 25 games. He had a home run, two RBIs, three walks and scored three runs.

Shelton State (34-9, 19-7 ACCC), winners of five straight games, overcame a 5-0 fourth-inning deficit for the game one win.

Hayes Harrison had an RBI single in the first and two-run single in a four-run second inning, that included four walks and a wild pitch to give the Patriots a 5-0 lead.

The Bucs got on the board on Waugh's two-out RBI double in the fourth.

The bats exploded for seven runs in the fifth inning to take an 8-5 lead.

Sophomore Tripp Gann started the rally with a one-out, pinch-hit double. Steele followed with a two-run homer to right-center make it 5-3. Henderson then slammed a home run to left field to cut it to 5-4.

NW Shoals turned to reliever Kyle Woolridge (4-2), who did not record an out.

Sophomore CF Pierce Dutton laid down a bunt single and freshman 1B James Graphos laced an RBI double to right to tie the game at 5-5. 

Shirley followed with an RBI single to give the Bucs their first lead at 6-5. Waugh drew a walk and freshman SS Slade Sullivan rapped another RBI single to push the lead to 7-5.

Gann capped the inning with an RBI single, his second hit of the inning, off Logan White, the third pitcher of the inning for the Patriots.

White pitched in both games and allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He threw 106 pitches.

Steele (4-0) worked the first four innings for the win. After the four-run second inning, he retired seven of the next eight hitters. He finished with six strikeouts.

Sophomore RHP Bryant Akridge followed with three scoreless innings for his first save.

Waugh added a two-run double in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 10-5.

The Bucs turned a walk, two bunt singles and one error into a pair of runs in the seventh to make it 12-5.

Shelton State took the game one momentum into the nightcap, scoring four runs in the first inning.

Shirley blasted a three-run homer and Waugh followed with a solo shot to make it 4-0.

The Bucs stretched the lead to 5-0 in the second inning when Steele drew a two-out walk and scored on Henderson's opposite field RBI double.

Northwest Shoals (27-18, 15-10 ACCC) scored single runs in  the second and third innings to pull to within 5-2. 

Eli Tidwell had an RBI double in the second and Will Singefeld added an RBi single in the third.

Sophomore RHP JD Wilkins started on the mound and allowed two runs on six hits in three innings. He added three strikeouts.

Freshman LHP Landon Shumate tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings for his first career win. The 3 2/3 innings and four strikeouts were season highs.

Sophomore John Michael Pickens worked the final 2 1/3 innings and struck out four.

The Bucs bullpen threw nine scoreless innings and logged 10 strikeouts.

The series continues on Saturday with a double header beginning at Noon in Tuscaloosa.