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Athens,TN – We are looking forward to a highly ranked matchup this weekend down in Tennessee as the #2 Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs take on the #5 Reinhardt Eagles. This top 5 matchup will surely have fans tuned in as we can expect a dogfight between the two powerhouse teams. 

HISTORY

The Bulldogs knocked out Reinhardt last year in the national semifinal on a walk-off single in the 11th inning by a score of 3-2. 

Schedules(All times local) 

February 28th, Friday at 2:00 pm

March 1st, Saturday at 12:00 pm

March 1st, Saturday at 2:00 pm

Teams 

Tennessee Wesleyan (13-3/5-1) – Coming off of a run to the national semifinal last year, Coach Billy Berry has himself yet another contender in Athens for the 2025 season. Coming into the matchup with a team average of .366 that ranks 3rd nationally, this Bulldogs team displays one of the nations best offenses who all can leave the yard on a consistent basis. Leading the team currently is Corbin Shaw with 7 home runs, a number good for second in the country along with a .395 average. Arkansas transfer Kolton Reynolds provides even more power from one of the outfield spots with 6 home runs and a .405 average. With both of these guys hitting near the bottom of the lineup should tell you all you need to know, with players like Edwin Toribio and Daniel Stewart around them that will make it tough on any opposing pitching staff. On the mound, TWU returns All-American LHP Blake Peyton who led this staff to Lewiston last season. Fellow LHPs Justin Jackson and Southeastern transfer Daniel Batcher round out what is a star-studded roster, with Jackson currently near the top of the country in strikeouts with 33 in his 4 starts. Multiple All-Americans will be on display this weekend and this Bulldogs roster will definitely have a few candidates on that list. 

Reinhardt (14-0/6-0) – A team that is returning a few All-Americans of their own is the Eagles of Reinhardt. Head Coach Jonathan Burton is in his seventh season at the helm, and led this Reinhardt team to a historical 2024 campaign that fell at the hands of this Tennessee Wesleyan team in one of the best games in recent memory. While the Eagles did graduate a lot of talent on the offensive side from last season, they do return one of the best hitters in the country in 1B Nash Crowell. The senior blasted 23 home runs last year and 20 in the 2023 season, and now is once again on a 20 home run pace as he leads the team with a .510 average along with 5 bombs so far in 2025. Crowell will get the headlines when talking about the lineup, but guys like Adrian Vargas, Robert Phelps, and Luca Boscarino all come in with an average over .350 and make up a powerful Eagles lineup. Andrew Herbert returns on the mound along with Brett Allen, and the All-American duo has continued much of the same results this season. Herbert comes in with a 0.74 ERA along with 30 strikeouts in 4 starts this season. As a staff, Reinhardt has a 1.96 team ERA, good for 6th in the country. Brett Allen has been a weapon in every role they’ve put the Australian native in and saw that on display in their run to the World Series. Logan Lynch in 7 appearance this season has a 0.57 ERA and has been a big reason to the 14-0 start this season for the Eagles. Much like we said last week, this Top 5 matchup in Athens, Tennessee this weekend will have multiple All-Americans in both dugouts going at it with huge conference championship implications on the line. You cannot ask for a better matchup at any point in the regular season, and we get this one on the last weekend of February. This one is going to be incredible. 

-Tyson Wallace & Taylor Thomas