MONTREAT, N.C.— The Montreat baseball team made its 2023 Newell Field debut Saturday afternoon when it hosted the Bryan College Lions for an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) doubleheader. Behind a late rally, the Cavaliers walked-off the Lions in game one, 7-6, before narrowly dropping the second matchup, 7-5. With the twin bill split, the Cavs' record moved to 4-9 (1-2 AAC).
After
Daniel Willie sent the Lions down in order to start game one, Montreat broke through with the initial run in the following half inning.
Norman Kelly took first base after he was hit by a pitch, and
Jaider Morelos singled through the right side to place a pair of runners on base. Then, with two outs,
Caleb Abshier plated Kelly with an infield single to short, putting the hosts up 1-0.
Bryan (7-3, 2-1 AAC) leveled the score with a solo shot to right center in the third inning, and it took a 3-1 lead by pushing across two more runs in the top of the fifth via a home run and a 2-out single; however, the visitors' advantage disappeared in the bottom half of the frame thanks to Montreat's 3-run fifth.
Daniel Wetmore and
Isaac Castro led off the inning with back-to-back doubles, cutting the deficit in half at 3-2.
Zeb Marquis then tied the game when he lofted a sacrifice fly to center, which brought home Castro and emptied the bases. With two outs, Kelly drew a walk, and he came around to score on a hit-and-run double off the bat of Morelos, putting the Cavaliers back in front by a run, 4-3.
The Lions loaded the bases with no outs in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the visitors only managed to score a single run in each frame, keeping the Cavs right in the ballgame despite the 5-4 deficit.
Caden Wright delivered a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts in relief, and a 2-out throwing error that pulled Bryan's first baseman off the bag knotted the score once again, this time at 5-5.
A walk, a wild pitch and an RBI single momentarily put Bryan in position to claim victory in the top of the ninth, 6-5, but
Necumba Booker Jr. had some heroics in store for the Lions. With the bases loaded, the Cleveland, Ohio native ripped a single down the first-base line, plating two runs to walk-off the visitors by a 7-6 scoreline.
Morelos (2-3) and Wetmore (2-4) notched multiple knocks in game one, while Booker Jr. drove in a pair of runs. Kelly scored two runs in the contest, and six different Cavaliers combined to draw five walks and four HBPs. On the mound, Wright claimed his first win of the season in two innings of work.
After dropping a heartbreaker in game one, the Lions wasted no time jumping out in front in game two. Bryan established a 3-run lead before Montreat came to the plate thanks to a 3-run shot to center field; however, the Cavs answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Kelly led off the first with a 5-pitch walk, and Morelos blasted a 2-run homer to center that trimmed the gap to 3-2. Later in the inning, Booker Jr. dribbled an infield single to second base, and a subsequent throwing error tied the game at 3-3 as it scored Abshier.
Ben Cornelius kept the Lions off the board in the second, which allowed the hosts to move ahead, 4-3, with a run in the bottom of the inning. Marquis drew a leadoff walk before stealing both second and third base. Then, following another free pass for Kelly, Morelos tallied his third RBI of game two on a sac fly to center.
Two more shutdown innings from Cornelius kept Montreat up a run midway through the contest, but Bryan eventually erased its deficit and regained the lead thanks to a triple, a passed ball and a solo blast in the fifth. The Lions then tacked on two more in the top of the sixth behind a 2-run homer, putting the visitors in the driver's seat late.
Montreat had a chance to shrink the gap in the sixth, but the hosts left the bases loaded following a strikeout and a flyout to center. Morelos crushed a solo blast to deep center in the bottom of the seventh, and the Cavaliers put the go-ahead run on base after a 2-out single and a pair of walks, but the rally ultimately fell short on a grounder to third. With the final out, the Lions clinched a 7-5 victory and a series triumph.
Morelos (2-3) and Abshier (2-4) were the lone Cavs to tally multiple hits in game two, but both of Morelos' knocks came via the longball. The Cartagena, Colombia native was credited with all four RBIs as well, giving him a team-high 14 RBIs this season.
Rawley Stinson pitched a full inning of scoreless relief in the defeat.
"It was another building weekend for us as the team showed a lot of fight," said head coach
Jason Beck. "Consistency is the key that we need to improve on, but I feel we have shown we can play with anybody. We just need the younger guys to step up a little bit more in some big spots that they might not be that comfortable with just yet."
The Montreat baseball team continues with AAC play when it travels to Bluefield University for a 3-game series next weekend. First pitch on Friday is slated for 1:00 p.m. in Bluefield, Va.
