MILLIGAN, Tenn.— The Montreat baseball team concluded its Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) rivalry series with the Milligan University Buffaloes Saturday afternoon in Tennessee. While the Cavaliers didn't win the series, they split the weekend doubleheader to capture a crucial league triumph. Following Saturday's 8-2 defeat in game one and 5-3 victory in game two, the Cavs' record now stands at 19-28 (10-17 AAC).
Like Friday, Montreat grabbed a 1-0 lead before the Buffaloes had a chance to bat.
Justin Austin plated
Zeb Marquis with an RBI single to right, putting the visitors in front right out of the gate; however, Milligan (27-20, 16-11 AAC) took control of the initial contest from there.
The Buffs knotted the matchup via a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. A double steal and a throwing error coupled with another sac fly had the home side ahead, 3-1, through three frames.
MU continued its scoring stretch across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Buffaloes ultimately scored eight consecutive runs after the Cavaliers struck first. Following seven innings of action, the hosts maintained an 8-1 advantage on the scoreboard.
Richard Matos Delacruz closed out the scoring in the top of the ninth. The Boston native drove in
Brett Pitzer on a fly ball to left field. Despite scoring in the first and ninth innings, Montreat landed on the wrong side of an 8-2 final.
Five different Cavs combined for five hits in game one. Pitzer,
Jason Brulport and
Kaden Ethier each drew a walk, while Marquis and Pitzer scored the two runs. Austin and Matos Delacruz each tallied an RBI.
Milligan seemed poised to sweep the three-game series after scoring a trio of runs to begin the latter half of Saturday's doubleheader. Montreat never gave up, though, and it scratched across five runs to pick up a critical win in the AAC standings.
Jaider Morelos' RBI single brought the visitors to within 3-1 in the top of the third. A three-run fifth later allowed the Cavaliers to claim their first lead of the contest.
Dawson Bryant cut the gap to one run with an RBI fielder's choice. Morelos then leveled the score on a wild pitch before Austin gave Montreat a 4-3 lead via a sac fly.
Austin tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single to right during the seventh. Meanwhile, the Cavs' pitching staff kept Milligan off the scoreboard across the final five frames. As a result, Montreat secured a 5-3 victory in the series finale.
Matt Campos went three innings in his start on the mound, allowing four hits and two earned runs.
Trevor Laughlin snagged his third win of the campaign by pitching 3 1/3 shutout frames while striking out three.
Hunter Rast then registered his third save this year by retiring the final two batters.
Of the Cavaliers' 10 hits in game two, Bryant delivered three of those knocks while Ethier contributed two.
Daniel Wagner scored and walked twice, and Austin totaled two RBIs.
"The guys really persevered and fought to the end today," said head coach
Jason Beck. "They could've rolled over, but they knew what was at stake and really stepped it up. I'm proud of them. We still have a huge series to go next week against Bryan as we get into senior day."
Montreat wraps up the regular season next week with a three-game set versus Bryan College. The series is expected to start on Thursday at a yet-to-be-determined time.
