No. 4 Baseball Takes Out Brooms for Montreat

MONTREAT, N.C.- The fourth-ranked baseball team opened their Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series against the Montreat College with two games on Friday. The team won the first game 8-3 and the second game 6-4.

Game One:

Reece Jordan opened the first inning with a bunt single, getting to second base via a stolen base and third on an error. A sacrifice fly by Josh Shelly gave Jordan the time to score, giving the team a 1-0 lead after the first inning. Montreat tied the score in the third inning.

TWU held a brief lead after the top of the fifth inning. Jordan got on base once again with a bunt single and stole second again to get into scoring position. This time, an Ethan Wright single brought in Jordan, moving the lead to 2-1. A run in the bottom of the fifth tied the game 2-2. 

The Bulldogs broke the tie in the next inning. With Allan Gil Fernandez standing on second, Kolton Reynolds hit a home run to put the team ahead by two runs. TWU continued adding to their score with a Jonathan Bosque two-RBI double bringing in David Ballenilla and Cade Philpot. The inning ended with the team leading 7-2 after Jordan's double brought in Bosque. The final run of the game came in the form of a Fernandez solo home run.

Reynolds and Bosque led the team with two RBIs each. Justin Jackson got the pitching win.

Game Two:

Tennessee Wesleyan used four runs to take the lead in the second game of the doubleheader. With the bases loaded, a walk by Reynolds brought in Wright for the first run of the game. A sacrifice fly by Brayan Espinoza brought the second run on board as Fernandez scored. After a stolen base got Reynolds to second, Ballenilla hit a single to right field that both Shelly and Reynolds would score on, giving the team a 4-0 advantage. 

The opponents scored a run in the second inning but the Bulldogs did not score again until the fifth inning. Jordan scored the only run of the inning for the team on Fernandez's sacrifice fly, moving the lead to 5-1. Two runs in the bottom of the fifth helped Montreat cut TWU's lead to just two runs. 

Ballenilla would add a little insurance in the sixth inning, hitting a single that brought Reynolds across home plate. Montreat scored one more run as the team held on for the sweep.

Ballenilla led the offense with three RBIs in the win. Cameron Goffar was credited with the pitching win.

The Bulldogs (18-5, 8-0 AAC) finishes the series with Montreat on Saturday with a single game at 12:00 p.m.