KINGSPORT, Tenn. (May 16, 2019) – For the third time in three days, the second-seeded Webber international University baseball team took on No. 2-nationally ranked and top-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan University in the 2019 NAIA Opening Round – Kingsport Bracket, but unfortunately, the Warriors also fell to the Bulldogs for the second game in a row, this time by a score of 8-4 and ending Webber's season one game short of reaching its first NAIA World Series.

Austin Seeman (1-1), a freshman pitcher from Weeki Wachee, Florida, making the third and most important start of his young career, got off to a great start and held a 2-0 lead after two innings after TWU jumped on the Warriors with two runs in the first inning the day before on Wednesday.

After Seeman's first pitch of the game resulted in an error by the Warriors, his second pitch resulted in a fielder's choice to the shortstop. Seeman then recorded a swinging strikeout for out number two followed by a fly out to Willie Carter in left field to leave the runner at first base. It was a nine-pitch first inning for the rookie pitcher.

After Quirino Esquivel led off the top of the second inning with the first hit of the game for either team, a double down the right field line, he was moved to third base on a single to right field by Rougie Odor and then came home for the first run of the game on a balk by the Bulldogs' starting pitcher Jack Granath.

After the balk, Cristian Rivera grounded out to the shortstop to move Odor to third base, and then Carlos Pino sent a sacrifice fly deep to the warning track in left center field to easily score Odor and make it 2-0 Warriors.

With two runners on for TWU in the bottom of the second, Seeman got a swinging strikeout for out number two followed by a fly out to Garrett Martin in center field to retire the side.

Unfortunately for Seeman and the Warriors, the Bulldogs jumped ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the third on a big three-run home run to right field by TWU's cleanup hitter, Anthony Williams.

Webber then squandered back-to-back opportunities to tie the game in the fourth and fifth innings. The Warriors left the potential tying run in Odor on second base in the top of the fourth; and then Webber stranded runners on the corners in the top of the fifth after a one-out single up the middle by Martin followed by a two-out hit to center by Carter to move Martin to third.

On the mound, Doug Pearl pitched a strong 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth for the Warriors, but after a leadoff solo home run and a balk in the bottom of the fifth, Pearl gave way to Zak Spivy, who entered in the hopes of keeping the Warriors in the game only two days after tossing a complete game shutout against the Bulldogs in a 1-0 win on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, two more runs came across to score with Spivy on the mound in the fifth as TWU put up a four-run inning in all to go ahead by five runs at 7-2.

Those four runs for the Bulldogs in the fifth proved to be the difference in the game as Webber added two more runs but was never able to fully recover.

In the top of the sixth, Webber loaded the bases with one out after three straight singles, but the Warriors were only able to push one run across on a fielder's choice by Pino to make it a 7-3 deficit.

A solo home run to left field with one out in the top of the seventh by Carter, his 19th long ball and 62nd RBI of the season, made it a three-run margin at 7-4.

After Webber went down 1-2-3 with two strikeouts in the top of the eighth, a leadoff walk by Martin gave the Warriors hope in the top of the ninth. However, a double play off the bat of Norberto Navarro put two outs on the board; and then after a ground-rule double by Carter to right, Marcus Begg went down swinging to end it.

Carter finished 3-for-5 while Esquivel and Odor both finished 2-for-4. Esquivel wrapped up his final opening round with eighth hits in total, two hits in each game.

Brad Niethammer, who made his final appearance as the head coach of the Warriors, had this to say after the final game, "Its a disappointing end when you get this close, but to beat a top seed in the NAIA postseason, you have to play really well. I'm proud of our guys on another record-breaking year and taking another stop closer to getting to the World Series."

Webber finished its 2019 season with an overall record of 38-22, its third consecutive year with at least 37 victories and its third consecutive year reaching the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. The Warriors also made their second straight Sun Conference Tournament championship game appearance in 2019 after winning the tournament for the first time in program history in 2018.