FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Methodist baseball team scored in all but two innings en route to a 16-4 victory at Armstrong-Shelley field on Wednesday afternoon.
The Monarchs (10-7) started off strong in the bottom of the first, tallying four runs.
Pete Wildeboer walked to lead off the frame and a sacrifice bunt by
Alex Rodriguez advanced him to second.
Steven Kirby doubled to right field to drive home Wildeboer and the next batter,
Matt Jack, singled to right field to push Kirby to third. An error by the Wasps (2-8) allowed batter
Stephen Nalls to advance to second after reaching on a bunt, and scored Jack and Kirby, giving Methodist a 3-0 lead. After a single by
Ray Lanners,
Tyler Hardee laid out a sacrifice bunt to score Nalls, and push the Green and Gold to a 4-0 advantage.
Methodist added two more runs in the second and third innings and in the top of the sixth, Emory & Henry made it on the board after loading the bases with a walk by Bransen Christopher, Brandon Lineberry getting hit by a pitch and a single by Kevin Nelson. Brandon Whitaker singled through the left side on the next play, and cut the deficit to three runs with the score at 6-1 in MU's favor.
The Green and Gold answered in the next half-inning, going up 8-1 thanks to a couple wild pitches by E&H's relief pitcher, Nick Lesnak. Jack reached after being hit by a pitch and Nalls drew a walk, and both were moved to the next base on a wild pitch. A double by Lanners scored the two Monarchs, and a double play with the bases loaded prevented Methodist from any more scored runs.
The Wasps added their last three runs in the top of the seventh, loading the bases and scoring off two players getting hit by pitches and one run walked in to put the score at 8-4 in favor of Methodist.
Methodist piled on four additional runs in the bottom of the seventh with RBI from Nalls, Lanners, and Hardee, pushing the Monarchs to a 12-4 lead.
The bottom of the eighth saw the Green and Gold tack on another four runs to push their advantage to 16-4. After
Davis Cass drew a lead-off walk and was driven home, after advancing to second on a wild pitch, on a single by
Adam Gunn. A single by
Alex Dockery pushed Gunn to third and another wild pitch would score him, giving MU a 14-4 lead. Dockery scored on an error by Emory & Henry and after back-to-back walks by Lanners and Nalls and singles by Hardee and
Lucas Scott, the Monarchs pulled ahead 16-4.
The mound saw many different pitchers for both teams, but starting pitcher for Methodist,
Josh Howard, was the one who walked away with the win after pitching just one inning and allowing no runs or hits with one strikeout. Methodist put in eight different pitchers in relief for Howard, each seeing 1.1 innings or less of action.
Emory & Henry's starting pitcher, Dakota Grizzel, was handed the loss after tossing for 3.0 innings and allowing six runs (4 ER) and six hits with five walks.
Gunn was perfect for the day, finishing 2-for-2 with two scored runs and Lanners was 3-for-4 with three RBI and one run scored. Wildeboer added two hits in three at bats and added one RBI and two scored runs. Jack was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Hardee and Nalls chipped in two RBI apiece.
Brandon Johnson led for the Wasps, finishing 3-for-5 and Nelson went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Whitaker and Austin Crowder added two and one RBI, respectively.
The Monarchs continue home play this weekend, hosting USA South conference foe, William Peace University. The three-game series will begin on Friday at 7 PM.
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