ATHENS, Tenn.— The Montreat baseball team started Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) action on Friday as the Cavaliers traveled to Tennessee for a doubleheader against the No. 6-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs. With a 12-1 result in seven innings and a 7-3 victory in game two, the Cavs moved to 5-9 overall and 1-1 in AAC play.
The Cavaliers notched a hit in their opening three trips to bat, but TWU pitching eliminated the baserunners in two instances and eliminated the threat at the plate the other time to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
Tennessee Wesleyan (5-5, 1-1 AAC) then drove in five runs on five hits over the first two frames to lead 5-0 before adding a pair in the bottom of the fourth to go up 7-0 through four.
Montreat got a run back in the ensuing half-inning as
Jaider Morelos plated
Mitch Ball; however, another double play stunted the Cavalier offense. The Bulldogs kept the Cavs hitless from there and scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to conclude the run-rule affair with a 12-1 scoreline.
Ball (2-3) recorded multiple base knocks as TWU outhit Montreat 13-6 in game one.
The Cavaliers struck first in the latter contest thanks to a passed ball and a wild pitch in the top of the initial frame before
Elijah Baptist blasted his first home run of the season to left in the second to hand the Cavs a 2-0 advantage through two innings.
TWU tied the contest in the fourth and took a 3-2 edge in the fifth, but Montreat responded in the sixth. Two Bulldog miscues set the table for Ball, who singled in
Michael Bell to knot the score at three with one frame to go.
After
Dalton Strickland got the Cavs out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth, another Tennessee Wesleyan error allowed Montreat to re-take the lead in the last frame. A hit by Baptist started the seventh and a sacrifice bunt moved him to second. With two outs, the Bulldogs booted a ball that brought Baptist home for a 4-3 edge.
Tommy Ramos and
Elijah Stifter then went back-to-back to plate another trio of unearned runs to cap off the 4-run inning.
Strickland pitched a hitless 1 1/3 innings with three strikeouts to earn his first win of the year.
Joe Tomasello recorded the final out via strikeout to notch his second save of the season.
Baptist (2-3) ended as the only Cavalier with multiple hits and as the only visitor with more than one run scored (2) in the latter matchup, while Ramos drove in two runs.
"Today was a good day against a top-10 team. We showed some fight in the first game and continued that into the second game," said head coach
Jason Beck. "We really encouraged our guys to fight all 21 out, which they did, and the result went in our favor. We look forward to the opportunity to close out and hopefully win a series tomorrow."
Baseball concludes its series with the Bulldogs tomorrow afternoon. First pitch in Athens, Tenn. is slated for 1 p.m.
