The NAIA will have a new baseball champion this year. Tennessee Wesleyan, last year's winner in Lewiston, Idaho, lost 4-3 to Missouri Baptist in 19 innings Monday in the championship game of the opening series in Kingsport, Tenn. Tennessee Wesleyan (45-18) edged Missouri Baptist in the winners-bracket final Friday but lost to the Spartans on Saturday to force the second final. The Bulldogs scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday to create a 3-all tie, but no one scored again until Garrett Vail's sacrifice fly 10 innings later off Tyler Wilson (2-4). Spartans leadoff man Patrick Johnson, who was 3-for-7, began the 19th with a single, followed by a walk, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk for Joseph Taylor. Jake Stone singled with one out in the bottom of the inning, but the Bulldogs couldn't get him around as Matt Marsh (2-3) got the pitching win with six strikeouts and only three hits allowed in his six innings of relief. Vail singled in Pier Olivier-Dostaler, who had doubled, in the fourth inning, and Joe Stropp hit a two-run home run in the seventh to give Missouri Baptist (35-12) its 3-1 lead. Brad Carpenter was 3-for-8 for TWC and scored the game's first run on a wild pitch in the third inning, and he reached on a two-out error that allowed in one run in the ninth and set up Travis Burnside's tying single. Burnside was 3-for-8 with a double. Bulldogs starter Jarrod Jameson pitched into the seventh inning, allowing only five hits and two earned runs. Of TWC's five relievers, Noah Piard had a three-inning stint with one hit and four strikeouts and usual starter Corey Rhoney worked five scoreless innings. TWC ended up with 15 hits; MBU had 14.
• Cleveland Regional winner Lee University is seeded second behind Southern States Athletic Conference colleague Faulkner in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. Lee's Flames (49-10) will open at 9:30 p.m. EDT on May 25 against the winner of the May 24 game between seventh-seeded host Lewis-Clark State (41-13) and 10th seed Rogers State (34-22) of Oklahoma. The tournament runs through May 31.
Softball
• The Lee University softball team improved to 45-9 by edging Bethel College of Mishawaka, Ind., 3-1 Monday in the NAIA opening series hosted by Lee in Cleveland. Caroline MacAusland pitched a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts for Lee, which faces Olivet Nazarene at 2 p.m. today. Ana Coscorrosa was 1-for-2 with a first-inning RBI single for the Lady Flames, and they responded to a tying hit by Brookelyn Smith in the fourth with a three-hit bottom of the inning when Savanna Bell singled, Laurel Allen reached base on a bunt and Dominique Hannah doubled them home. Bell was 2-for-3; Hannah was 1-for-1 with two walks. Katie Claxon was 2-for-3 for Bethel (26-12).
• Senior catcher Bri Shoemake from Ooltewah was one of two Carson-Newman softball players to make the Daktronics All-Southeast Region second team chosen by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, to go with first-teamer and region player of the year Brittany Hefner of Talbott, Tenn.
• Tennessee Temple University sophomore outfielder Raven Pope and Shorter sophomore pitcher Maddie Bray from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School are second-team National Christian College Athletic Association Division I softball All-Americans for 2013, and Shorter's Brooke Crawford from Pisgah, Ala., and Covenant's Morgan Booker are among the NCCAA Scholar-Athletes. Shorter (48-11), the 2012 NAIA national champion, finished second to another provisional NCAA Division II member, Union University, in the NCCAA national tournament.
Fishing
• Parker Bacon and Taylor Bolton from the UTC bass fishing club finished 10th with 23 pounds, 1 ounce in the FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference Invitational tournament Saturday and Sunday on Wheeler Lake in northern Alabama. UNC Charlotte won with 35-13, one ounce more than Auburn-Montgomery. Grayson Payne of Blairsville, Ga., was one of the Young Harris duo that finished fifth at 28-12.
Bowling
• The inaugural Golden Eagle Classic for adult and junior bowlers is being held Friday and Saturday at Crystal Lanes in Dayton. Singles, doubles and team entries cost $15 a person per event, with proceeds going to help the Rhea County High School bowling program. The event starts at 6 p.m. Friday with team competition, followed by singles and doubles at 8:30. Singles and doubles squads will roll at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, sandwiching team bowling at 2. Anyone interested should call Rhea County coach Steve Williams at 276-494-2779.