DAYTON, Tenn.— The Montreat baseball team began Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play with a contest against the (RV) Bryan College Lions in Tennessee Friday evening. The Cavaliers dropped a 10-0 decision in eight innings to the home team, falling to 8-6 (0-1 AAC) on the season.
 
Bryan (5-7, 1-0 AAC) scratched two runs across in the bottom of the second to open the scoring before expanding its lead in the fifth with another trio of scores to go up 5-0 through five. Montreat reached base throughout the night; however, the Cavaliers failed to record a hit with a runner on base, which hampered the team's offensive threat throughout the course of the matchup.
 
Zach Gilbertsen and Caden Wright each pitched an effective inning in relief, walking a batter and striking one Lion out in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to keep Bryan at bay until late in the game.
 
With a handful of runs on the board, the Lions looked to pounce and close out the contest earlier than the scheduled nine innings. That opportunity came in the bottom of the eighth when the home team loaded the bases with no outs prior to plating five runs to end the 10-run ballgame.
 
Chase Bruno (1-4), Daniel Wetmore (1-3) and Norman Kelly (1-3) registered Montreat's three hits in the competition as the visitors were outhit 9-3 through the eight frames.
 
Baseball finishes its conference-opening series with a doubleheader at Bryan tomorrow in Dayton. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.