GREENVILLE, S.C.— The Montreat baseball team continued its stretch of nonconference action Tuesday afternoon with a road matchup against the Bob Jones University Bruins. Utilizing four crooked numbers and an explosive offensive display early, the Cavaliers cruised to an 18-3 run-rule triumph over the hosts. With the seven-inning victory, Montreat climbed to 13-16 on the year.
Bob Jones (6-16) scored an unearned run in the second, fifth and seventh frames. That proved to be all the offense the Bruins could muster against the Cavs' pitching staff.
Matt Campos snagged his second win of the campaign by hurling four frames of two-hit baseball. The Miami, Fla. native struck out three batters and surrendered just one unearned tally.
Dawson Yokley,
Braden Holliday and
Donovan Parker each tossed an inning in relief. Holliday didn't allow a hit or run during his effort.
Montreat pushed at least one run across in each of the initial four frames, including six in the second and seven in the third.
Dawson Bryant crushed a leadoff homer to open the game, and the Cavaliers never looked back.
Devon Smith notched a two-run double in the second, while
Tommy Ramos eventually wrapped up the inning with a three-run blast to left. Smith drove in two more runners in the top of the third, while
Manny Moore and
Blake Watts did the same.
Brett Pitzer's sacrifice fly and a throwing error expanded the visitors' edge to 16-1 through four.
Connor Goff added a sac fly of his own in the sixth.
Gio Quintero also plated
Daniel Wagner via a single up the middle. As the pitching staff recorded the final outs, the Cavs picked up a run-shortened 18-3 triumph.
"We are continuing to build and try to make our way through some injuries," said head coach
Jason Beck. "Today, we executed well but still need to clean up our defense. That said, it was definitely something to build off of for this upcoming weekend. Johnson is going to be a tough opponent, and we hope we can put all three aspects of the game together."
The visitors outhit the hosts throughout the contest, 15-5. Five different Cavaliers totaled multiple hits, while five Montreat batters drove in multiple runs. Smith led the squad with three runs scored and four RBIs. As a squad, the Cavs drew 10 walks and three hit-by-pitches.
Montreat returns to Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play on Friday for the start of a three-game set at Johnson University. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Knoxville, Tenn.
