Bucs Split with Bison

TUSCALOOSA - The eighth ranked Shelton State baseball team split a doubleheader with Southern Union on Saturday afternoon.

The Bucs won the first game 7-5, scoring two runs in the bottom of hm the sixth inning for the win. 

The Bison jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game two and held on for a 5-2 win.

The Bucs won the four-game series against the Bison and have 10 series wins this season.

Shelton State (39-11, 23-9 ACCC) fell to second place in the ACCC standings one-game behind red-hot Gadsden State (35-12, 24-8 ACCC), who is 18-1 in it's last 19 games.

Southern Union (25-24, 16-16) is tied for sixth place with Chattahoochee Valley. The top six teams advance to the ACCC Tournament in Oxford, Ala., on May 8-11.

The Bucs rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to post a 7-5 win in game one. 

Sophomore Tripp Gann led off the inning with a pinch hit single to centerfield. It was his sixth pinch-hit of the season and 12th of his career.

Sophomore JD Wilkins pinch-ran for Gann and sophomore LF Trenton Shirley was hit by a pitch.

Sophomore CF Pierce Dutton laid down a bunt single and a subsequent throwing error by pitcher Will Shepard allowed Wilkins and Shirley to score the go-ahead runs.

Shepard (1-1) allowed two runs on two hits and was charged with the loss.

Freshman RHP Peyton Zupancic (1-0) tossed two scoreless innings for the win.

Southern Union took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Santiago Pacheco and Haze    McCorkel. McCorkel later scored on passed ball. 

The Bucs answered with five runs in the bottom of the first to take a 5-2 lead.

Shirley drew a lead off walk and Dutton double down the left field line to put runners on second and third.

Shirley scored on a ground out by freshman RF Jackson Henderson and Dutton scored on a ground out by freshman 1B James Graphos.  

Freshman 3B Brady Waugh delivered an RBI single and after a pair walks sophomore 2B Brexton Taft added a two-run single to make it 5-2.

Waugh had two hits, one walk and three stolen bases in game one.

The Bison tied the game with three runs in third inning. Cannon Miller, Ethan Crook and Breydon Devine all drove in runs.

The Bison avoided the sweep with a 5-2 win in game two.

Brody Lindsey and Josh Holley limited the Bucs to two runs on seven hits and recorded 15 fly ball outs.

Southern Union took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Crook's RBI double and Miller's run-scoring single. Crook had five hits in the doubleheader, including three doubles.

The Bison scored an unearned run in the sixth and got a two-run single from Landon Leonard added a two-run single in the seventh.

The Bucs scored their only two runs in the seventh inning on sacrifice flies by pinch-hitter John Robicheaux and Shirley.

Shelton State wraps up the regular season with a four-game series against Calhoun Community College. The Bucs and Warhawks play Thursday, May 1 at 2 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.