Bucs Bullpen Shines in Win Over Patriots

TUSCALOOSA - A trio of Shelton State freshmen relief pitchers combined for seven no-hit innings as the Bucs rallied past Northwest Shoals 5-3 to take the series Saturday afternoon.

Jackson Henderson, Payton Zupancic and Kenneth Diddell combined for eight strikeouts over seven scoreless frames.

The bullpen tossed 18 scoreless innings in the four game series with 20 strikeouts.

Henderson entered the game in a tough spot in the third inning. The Patriots led 3-0 and had two runners on base with no outs.

He struck out the side to keep the Bucs in the game.

Shelton State (36-10, 20-8 ACCC) finally broke through with a run in the fourth inning.  

Sophomore RF Mason Steele singled to right-center to break up the perfect game. Steele swiped second base and scored on freshman 2B James Graphos' RBI single to left.

The Bucs carried that momentum into the fifth inning by scoring four runs on four hits to take the lead 5-3.

Sophomore 1B Tripp Gann started the inning with a double into the right field corner. Freshman 3B Slade Sullivan delivered a single to center.

Freshman C Grant Browning plated the first run with a sharp single to left, scoring Gann to make it 3-2. Sophomore SS Paxton Ponder was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Brodie McCain was replaced on the mound by Kyle Wooldridge, who did not record an out on Thursday.

Wooldridge recorded a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but lost an epic 11-pitch battle to Henderson, who fouled off five two-strike pitches before drawing a bases loaded walk that scored Sullivan with the tying run.

After another strikeout, Graphos lined a two-run single to left to score Browning and Ponder to give the Bucs a 5-3 lead.

McCain (5-3) allowed five earned runs and took the loss.

Henderson (3-1) blanked the Patriots through the sixth inning to earn the win. He finished with a career high six strikeouts.

Zupancic retired all eight batters he faced, including two strikeouts.

Diddell came on to record the final out and record his fourth save.

Northwest Shoals posted a 3-2 win in the first game of Saturday's double header behind the complete-game effort of left-hander Hayes Harrison.

The Bucs led 2-0 after one inning on a pair of RBI doubles by sophomores Pierce Dutton and Trenton Shirley.

The Patriots took advantage of eight walks, one hit by pitch and one error in the win. 

Hayes (2-0) limited the Bucs to just three hits after the first inning. At one point, he retired 12 straight hitters.

Eli Driskell (6-3) took the loss for the Bucs.

Shelton State is in a three-way tie for first place with Gadsden State and Coastal South with two weeks to play.

The Bucs will play Southern Union next weekend and closed with Calhoun in two weeks.