ATHENS, Tenn.— After splitting the first two games of an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series on Friday, the Montreat baseball team met up with the No. 6-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs in the rubber match Saturday afternoon. While the Cavaliers worked their way out of trouble on the mound, they couldn't manufacture enough offense to take the series. With a 2-0 AAC defeat, the visitors fell to 5-10 (1-2 AAC) on the year.
Tennessee Wesleyan (6-5, 2-1 AAC) had its fair share of traffic on the basepaths in the first few innings, but
Daniel Willie limited the damage on the bump. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first, but Willie managed to throw a zero on the board.
After TWU grabbed a 1-0 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly in the second, Willie pitched his way out of another jam with two men in scoring position. The hosts stranded seven runners on base through the initial three frames, and Montreat's career strikeout leader kept the Cavs within a run early.
Back-to-back 2-out doubles in the fourth pushed Tennessee Wesleyan's advantage to 2-0, but Willie got stronger as the game went along. The Ooltewah, Tenn. native scattered seven hits across seven innings of work, striking out five while allowing just two runs.
Joe Tomasello helped the Cavaliers wiggle their way out of another bases-loaded jam with no outs in the eighth, marking the second such instance of the afternoon.
Offensively, Montreat couldn't muster much against a high-level pitching attack. The Cavs totaled three singles on the day, and
Mitch Ball was the lone Cavalier to reach third base safely over the course of the 9-inning contest. In the end, the Bulldogs won the pitching duel, 2-0, and claimed the series victory in the process.
"Today was a really good game," said head coach
Jason Beck. "The pitchers did a phenomenal job picking up our defense, but the offense just wasn't there today. We faced a top-10 team and battled hard. Hopefully we'll build off this for next week against Truett McConnell, but for now, we just have to keep grinding."
Jaider Morelos (1-4),
Caleb Abshier (1-4) and
Manny Moore (1-3) registered Montreat's three hits, and Ball drew the squad's only walk at the plate.
The Montreat baseball team continues conference play next Friday when it hosts Truett McConnell University for the start of a 3-game set. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. in Montreat, N.C.
