Bucs Blank Coyotes; Advance to ACCC Title Game
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
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0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 9 | 0 |
OXFORD - The tenth ranked Shelton State baseball team advanced to the championship game of the 2025 ACCC Tournament with a 5-0 win over Coastal Alabama South on Sunday at Choccolocco Park.
Shelton State (45-11) is seeking its third straight ACCC/Region XXII title and fourth in the last five years.
Freshman DH Jackson Henderson blasted a three-run home run to cap a five-run second inning to lead the Bucs offense.
Henderson finished 3-for-3 with one home run, three RBIs and one walk.
Freshman RHP Eli Driskell and sophomore RHP JD Wilkins combined on the 4-hit shutout.
The win over the Coyotes marked the Bucs ninth shutout of the season and first in the ACCC Tournament since a 14-0 win over Coastal Alabama North in 2021.
The Bucs scored all five runs in the second inning to avenge and earlier loss this season to Coastal South LHP Talan Tourelle.
Tourelle (3-2) allowed five runs and nine hits in the complete game effort for the Coyotes.
Freshman 3B Slade Sullivan and sophomore 1B Brady Waugh drew back-to-back one-out walks in the second inning.
After a fly out, sophomore LF Trenton Shirley lined a single up the middle to score Sullivan with the first run.
Sophomore CF Pierce Dutton reached on a bunt single and Waugh scored on a subsequent throwing error to make it 2-0.
Henderson then launched a three-run, opposite field home run to right to give the Bucs a 5-0 lead. It was his team-leading eighth home run of the season and second of the tournament.
Driskell and Wilkins made the lead stick.
Driskell tossed 4 2/3 shutout innings and allowed three hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
Wilkins (5-3) added 4 1/3 scoreless innings for his second win of the year against the Coyotes. He allowed one hit, one walk and struck out two.
Coastal Alabama South (30-25) only threatened twice in the game. They stranded two base runners in the third and left the bases loaded in the fifth.
Shelton State will play Wallace State Hanceville on Monday, May 12 at 11 a.m. at Young Memorial Field on the UAB campus. The game is being moved because of weather and the beginning of ASHAA Championship Series in Oxford.
Hear from the Bucs:
#33 Eli Driskell
#23 JD Wilkins