FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist baseball team toppled the visiting Eagles of Eastern University, 18-5, Tuesday evening at Armstrong-Shelley Field.
 
The Monarchs (5-3) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the home half of the first inning on a three-run homer by Ray Lanners. After Pete Wildeboer was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Stephen Nalls sent a single to center to put him in scoring position. A fly-out by Alex Rodriguez advanced the runners to second and third before Lanners brought them home.
 
After tacking on another run in the second on an RBI single by Rodriguez to go up 4-0, Methodist exploded for nine runs on five hits in the bottom of the third. Back-to-back singles by Davis Cass and Tyler Hardee put runners in scoring position and a throwing error on Alex Dockery's bunt-single allowed them to score and MU to go up, 6-0. A single by Brennan Brown scored Dockery and back-to-back-to-back walks gave the Green and Gold an overwhelming 11-0 lead. After a pitching change by the Eagles (0-3) Hardee drew a walk to go up 12-0 and a sacrifice fly by Dockery pushed the lead to 13-0.
 
After two scoreless innings for either team, Eastern rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth on doubles by Timmy Gorton and Joseph De Los Santos, bringing the score to 13-3. The Eagles added an additional run in the seventh, when Angelo Kelly singled to left field to score Nick Centeno, who led off with a single through the left side.
 
The Eagles brought the score to 13-5 in the eighth when Andrew Boykin sent a first-pitch homer soaring over the center-field fence.
 
Methodist extended capped its scoring in the bottom of the eighth, tallying five runs for an 18-5 final score. A double down the right-field line by Colin Ford scored Lucas Scott, who drew a lead-off walk, and an RBI single by Caleb Lee scored Ford. With two outs, an error by Eastern's right fielder on Austin Fuentes' hit allowed Lee to score and Fuentes to get to third. After a pitching change, Fuentes made it home on a wild pitch.
 
On the night, Nalls was 2-for-3 with one RBI and three scored runs and Cass was 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice. Brown finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and run scored and Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored. Dockery added RBI and Lanners finished with four.
 
The Green and Gold utilized a plethora of pitchers on Tuesday evening. Starting pitcher Greg Johnson saw the mound for the first 3.0 innings and allowed no runs or hits with three strikeouts. Noah Dawson pitched the next 2.0 innings and allowed two hits with two strikeouts before giving way to Madison Cook, who pitched the next 1.0 innings and allowed three runs on four hits. Tyler Carmen saw his first 2.0 innings on the mound as a Monarch, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts before Ethan Woodruff pitched the final 1.0 innings, giving up just one hit with one strikeout.
 
Kelly finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and scored run and Centeno was 3-for-4 and scored once. De Los Santos tallied two RBI and Gorton and Boykin each recorded one RBI.
 
The Eagles put seven different pitchers to work on Tuesday night, but starting pitcher Tom Gordon (0-1) took the loss after allowing eight runs (7 ER) on seven hits with one strikeout.
 
The Monarchs will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C. tomorrow to play a neutral-site game against York College with first pitch slated for 4:00 p.m.
 
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