ATHENS, Tenn. (March 31, 2017) â€" Wyatt Richardson helped the Milligan College baseball team hang close with No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan University through the first six innings, but a big seventh inning from TWU allowed the Bulldogs to claim a 8-0 victory Friday evening in the Appalachian Athletic Conference series opener.
 
Richardson made the start and went five-plus innings, limiting to the Bulldogs to only two runs. The first run came in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out solo homer to right field. After that, Richardson settled in to keep TWU off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth, when a double put runners on second and third with one out. Dustin Cole came in to pitch at that point and got the Buffs out of the jam, in only a 2-0 game.
 
Tennessee Wesleyan then added to the lead in the seventh inning in a big way, tagging Milligan reliever Luke Spaulding with a pair of two-run homers which opened the game up to a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs made it 8-0 in the eighth despite Hunter Townsend getting the first two batters out in the inning.
 
Offensively, Milligan (15-17, 5-8 AAC) was held to three hits. They came off the bat of Justin Pearson, Clayton Conner and Bryan Soto. Pearson's hit was a single to right-center and broke up TWU starting pitcher Aaron Ford's no-hit bid to lead off the seventh. Conner's hit was a double to right in the same inning, but the Buffs were unable to capitalize.
 
Milligan and Tennessee Wesleyan will wrap up the series with a doubleheader on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. The Buffs will return home for a three-game set against St. Andrews University next Friday-Saturday.