Blue Team wins final game of Blue-White World Series

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Blue team won the final game of the 2012 Blue-White World Series 10-1 at Reese Smith Jr. Field Wednesday afternoon. Senior catcher Dain McNabb went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI including a two-run home run.

"The game just flipped the other way today," said head coach Jim McGuire after the Blue-White World Series finale. "That's what I told the team afterwards. It's so hard to sweep somebody. Everything has to line up. Sometimes a team wins two games and relaxes a bit, or everything looks like it's lined up for them and all of a sudden it's not. I was proud of the effor the Blue team gave coming off two lopsided losses."

Freshman Garrett Ring pitched five shutout innings for the Blue team, allowing five hits while striking out three batters. Kooper Kessler allowed three hits in an inning and a third, with Cody Tollison allowing no hits in 1.2 innings in relief.

"Garrett did a very, very good job," McGuire said about the freshman hurler Ring. "It would be ideal if we could line it up to where he pitches six or seven innings a week. He can command all three of his pitches and competes well. When he goes out he's all business and he was pretty good today."

Blue put two runs on the board in the top of the first. Jordan Rorex led off with a single, followed by another base hit by Ryan Stephens. Rorex advanced to third on a flyout by Robert Lawrence and scored on a wild pitch by the White team's starting pitcher Heath Slatton. Trent Miller then reached base after being hit by a pitch. McNabb then drove him in with a single, but was thrown out at second trying to extend his hit to a double.

The Blue team added two more runs in the top of the third inning. Matt Warner led off with a single. After Slatton retired Rorex and Stephens, Lawrence singled through the right side of the infield to score Warner and put Blue in front 3-0. Slatton then walked the bases loaded with two outs. Lawrence scored on a wild pitch to make the score 4-0, but Slatton got out of the inning by getting Blake Allen to flyout.

Ring pitched out of a couple jams early. With two White runners on in the top of the first, Ring struck out Jake Ellison and got Slatton to ground out. After allowing a leadoff single to Ryan Ford in the third, Ring induced a 4-6-3 double play to get two outs. Johnny Thomas then grounded out to end the inning.

Blue added three more runs in the fifth and eighth innings, respectively. Dalton Henzman hit a towering two-run home run over the left field fence in the fifth to put Blue ahead 7-0. McNabb had a two-run home run in the eighth. The White team scored its run in the bottom of the ninth as Adam Perry led off with a home run to right field.

Perry, Ford, Thomas, and Michael Adkins each had two hits for the White team, which won the Blue-White World Series 2-1. Slatton allowed four runs on six hits and five walks in four innings.

Wednesday's final game of the Blue-White World Series marked the end of the Middle Tennessee baseball team's fall practice.

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