FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Methodist baseball team pounded out a season-high 22 hits en route to its ninth consecutive win, a 14-5 defeat over visiting Guilford College. With the victory, the Monarchs are now 18-7 overall, while the Quakers fall to 6-16.
Both teams swung the bat well on Wednesday, with the Quakers jumping on the board early with a run in the first. Methodist rallied with two quick runs in the bottom half, scoring off an RBI ground out by
Steven Kirby and a single by
Ray Lanners.
Methodist exploded in the bottom of the second, scoring six runs. Singles by
Lucas Scott and
Cody Molosky put runners in scoring position, and an error off
Chris Power's hit scored Scott. A single by
Alex Rodriguez and a sacrifice bunt by Kirby scored two more, and a three-run home run by Lanners put the Monarchs ahead, 8-1.
Guilford cut the deficit to 8-3 in the top of the third, scoring off a two-RBI single by Charles Noble.
After adding one more in the fourth on a single by Scott, Methodist pushed its lead to 12-3, scoring three in the fifth inning. After picking Power off at second, Rodriguez and Kirby drew back-to-back singles, and a double by Jack and a ground out by Lanners scored the two Monarchs. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for MU, and a single by Scott plated Lanners to score the final run of the inning.
Power led the bottom of the sixth off with a double to right center, and after a base knock by Rodriguez, Kirby sent a sacrifice fly to center field to score Power. The Green and Gold tallied its last two runs off a double by Lanners, his tenth of the season, for a 14-3 lead.
Guilford attempted to rally in the top of the ninth, but fell short, loading the bases three separate times, but were only able to score two runs to put the final score at 14-5 in Methodist's favor.
Rodriguez finished a perfect 5-for-5 on the night, adding four scored runs and one RBI while Scott also was perfect, and went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Lanners went 3-for-5 with a season-high six RBI and added one run scored and Power was 3-for-6 with three runs scored. Kirby added three RBI and Jack added two scored runs.
Josh Shepherd was a solid 4-for-5 with two runs scored and Noble went 2-for-5 with three RBI.
Relief pitcher
Daniel Royer (3-0) got the win, pitching a scoreless 2.0 innings.
Travis Johnson started for MU, and allowed one run on one hit. Methodist also utilized five other pitchers and allowed only eight hits.
Jake Watkins (0-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs (7 ER) on nine hits in the first 1.1 innings.
Methodist returns to conference play this weekend, hosting a series with Maryville beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 12:00 pm.
--
