KINGSPORT, Tenn.— The Montreat baseball team opened its postseason schedule with an afternoon Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament contest against the No. 3 seed, the University of Pikeville Bears, in Kingsport, Tenn. Wednesday afternoon. After trailing by three runs early and one run late, the No. 6 seeded Cavaliers utilized a 3-run top of the ninth to defeat the Bears 9-7 and improve to 27-23-1 on the year.
 
A 3-run home run in the first handed Pikeville (30-18) a 3-0 edge; however, scoring in four consecutive frames vaulted the Cavs to a lead. A sacrifice fly by Manny Moore in the second and a run crossing on a double play in the third brought Montreat within one before Michael Bell and Jaider Morelos gave the visitors a 4-3 advantage in the top of the fourth.
 
The Bears leveled the matchup at four in the ensuing half inning, but Jeff Cardazzone utilized an RBI single, his third hit of the day, in the fifth to put the Cavaliers up 5-4.
 
"We were really happy to see Jeff's performance today. He came through and did what we needed to do," mentioned head coach Jason Beck on Cardazzone's game.
 
Daniel Willie settled in well on the mound following the first frame. From the first through the third innings, Willie retired seven of eight to hold UPIKE to one run over a stretch of five trips to the plate. He finished with seven strikeouts through his 6 1/3 innings of work.
 
Although a pair of walks came around to score as Pikeville responded in the bottom of the seventh, Montreat evened the competition at six in its next at bat due to Bell's second RBI of the afternoon. With the score tied entering the ninth, a 3-spot gave the Cavaliers the separation they needed. Cardazzone, who concluded the ballgame 5-for-5 with three RBIs, put the Cavs on top with his 2-RBI single to left. Caleb Abshier then added a sacrifice fly as Montreat led 9-6.
 
"I felt great at the plate today. I was looking for pitches to hit and got them all game. It was a great feeling to help the team win and put us in situations to score runs," Cardazzone noted.
 
Joe Tomasello collected the win as he closed out the matchup by pitching the final 2 2/3 innings. Surrendering just three hits and one run, the Tampa, Fla. native improved to 4-0 on the season with his shutdown outing.
 
"In the past, we've had to come out of the play-in game or we lose the first game, but to win the first game is big. I think that's the slow progression of the program and the culture we're creating of knowing how to win and doing things the right way," Beck stated.
 
The Cavaliers narrowly outhit the Bears, 14-13, and used five multi-hit performances to do so. In addition to Cardazzone's five base knocks, Morelos (2-4), Mitch Ball  (2-4), Abshier (2-4) and Bell (2-3) each secured two hits. Ball scored a team-best three runs, while Andres Balart crossed home twice in the victory. Bell (2) joined Cardazzone with more than one RBI.
 
Baseball now faces the winner of the matchup between No. 2 seed Tennessee Wesleyan and No. 10 seed Union Commonwealth tomorrow at 4 p.m.