Bulldogs Outscore Montreat 23-6 Over Three Games to Win Weekend Series

Recap, photo courtesy of TWU

Black Mountain, NC- The baseball team was back on the road this past weekend. After a non-conference doubleheader last Tuesday, the team jumped back into Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play, opening a three-game series against the Montreat College Cavaliers.

Game 1 (Friday)

On Friday, the Bulldogs used a big first inning to take control of the single nine inning game. Tyler Halas opened up the game with a single to left. With the next batter striking out, Collin Ridout took the first pitch thrown to him and sent it over center field to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. The third run of the inning came from Dakota Phillips who, after hitting a double in his at-bat, crossed home plate on Braden Mosley's single. A wild throw moved Mosley around the bases, landing on third before the second homer of the inning from Grant Lang gave TWU a 5-0 lead.

Aloysius Cruz's double moved Ridout to third base in the third inning with the Bulldogs looking to strike again on the scoreboard. A two-RBI double by Phillips scored Ridout and Cruz to make the score 7-0. With Mosley on first off his batted ball which caused an error, Malik Stephens sent a ball to right field, scoring Phillips for run number eight and moving Mosley to third as Stephens moved to second on the throw from his hit. A double to left by Halas gave Tennessee Wesleyan a double-digit lead, with the team leading 10-0 at the conclusion of the third inning. In the fifth inning, Addison Adams used a single to reach base and eventually scored off a Ridout batted ball to give the team an 11-0 lead. Four runs after the fifth inning from the Cavaliers were not enough to stop TWU from walking off the field with the first win.

Halas went 4-6 from the plate with two RBIs in the game. Ridout led in the RBI category with three,

also adding a home run in the game along with Lang. Philip Sieli pitched six solid innings in the game, striking out seven batters and was relieved by Troy Whitty and Brantley Flanagan.

Game 2 and 3 (Saturday)

On Saturday, the two teams met for a doubleheader to close out the weekend series. In the first game of the doubleheader, the first two innings did not see either team score as the hits which were recorded by both teams were prevented from turning into runs with good pitching from Cole Bellair and strong defense. Two quick outs in the top of the third inning made it seem like the scoring drought would continue but a Halas blast, the first of five home runs in the game by the Bulldogs, changed the direction of the game and gave the visitors a 1-0 lead. Ridout scored in the fourth inning off a Phillips sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 advantage.

Over the final four innings, Tennessee Wesleyan scored seven more runs, including four home runs. The first of the final four home runs came from Cruz in the sixth inning followed by another solo shot from Lang for the second. In the eighth inning, with Ridout on first, Phillips hit a 2-run dinger over the right field fence to give the Bulldogs a 6-1 advantage. The final inning saw Lang hit his second homer of the game, Tristan Clarke hit a sacrifice fly to score Adams and Cruz record his second RBI of the game with a single which scored Chris Baetzel to give TWU the 9-1 series clinching win.

In six inning of work on the mound, Bellair struck out seven batters while giving up only one run on seven hits. From the batter's box, Lang's 3-4 with two home runs, two RBIs and two runs scored led the way.

The second game of Saturday's doubleheader saw a pitching gem from Daniel Tolano as he was wheeling and dealing his way to nine strikeouts in the game. A two-run blast from Cruz in the fourth inning and a Clarke run scored off a Phillips caused error was all the insurance Tolano needed to pitch the team to a complete game 3-1 win.

In the win, Tolano retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced with the help of putouts from six different players. Clarke went 2-3 from the plate, scoring two runs in the game for the Bulldogs. 

Cruz has eight home runs this season while Phillips has seven to go along with six from Lang on the season.  

Tennessee Wesleyan now sits at 20-16 overall and a 10-5 record in the AAC as the month turns to April. The team will face another challenge in Georgia Gwinnett College, the second-ranked team in the NAIA, for a single nine-inning game on Wednesday. Georgia Gwinnett won the first meeting between the two teams 10-8. First pitch is set for 3:00.