MONTGOMERY, ALA. -- The Methodist baseball team opened the 2018 season by splitting a pair of games in the Firehouse Classic, hosted by Huntingdon, on Friday.
 
The Monarchs (1-1) earned a 10-3 victory against Rhodes (2-3) in the afternoon before falling to No. 7 Birmingham-Southern (1-0), 22-11, to close the day
 
In its first game of the day, MU scored in each of the first three innings. Clay Richardson drew a one-out walk in the top of the first before coming around to score from first on an RBI double from Alex Kachler, 1-0. The next batter, Will May, laced a single up the middle that brought Kachler in from second, 2-0.
 
The Monarchs added another run in the following inning after Parker Clayton started the inning by reaching base on an error. Ethan Carmack and Matthias Carter followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases before Kachler was hit by a pitch to allow Clayton to score, 3-0.
 
Tucker Criswell led off the third inning with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Davis Cass as MU increased its lead to 4-0. Richardson belted his first career home run with two outs in the seventh frame to give the Green and Gold a 5-0 advantage.
 
The Lynx batted back in the bottom of the eighth as Jake Stacy led off with a double down the left field line and scored on a throwing error from Methodist, 5-1. Two batters later, Levi Greenberg singled in Brady John before a fielder's choice allowed another run to score as Rhodes cut the lead to 5-3.
 
The Monarchs responded with a five-run ninth inning when Kachler delivered a two-out, two run single with runners on second and third to put MU up 7-3. Cass earned a bases-loaded walk and Jacob Austin laced a two-run single up the middle to get to the 10-3 final.
 
Kachler was 2 for 4 with four RBI and two runs scored, while Richardson homered, walked twice and scored three times. Criswell also had a multi-hit game, as Austin and Cass each finished with a pair of RBI.
 
Tyler Brown (1-0) started on the mound and tossed 6.0 scoreless innings, scattering two hits. He also struck out five batters and walked one to earn his first collegiate victory. Will Walker (1) pitched the final three innings yielding three runs (two ER) on six hits with five strikeouts. Jack Mercer (1-1) received the loss after giving up four runs (three ER) on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Three relievers combined to throw 3.0 innings and allowed six runs on four hits and three walks.
 
In game two, Birmingham-Southern took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by AJ Hunt. The Monarchs responded by piling on nine runs in the home half of the second frame. Cass began the inning with a single before consecutive errors on the Panther infield loaded the bases. Back-to-back bunts plated two runs as MU took a 3-1 advantage. Richardson singled to load the bases and Kachler reached on a fielder's choice to score another run. Will May jacked a three-run homer to right field to give the Monarchs a 7-1 lead and a pair of singles put runners on the corners and forced a pitching change. Two more runs crossed the plate as the Green and Gold collected eight hits and took advantage of four errors to take a 9-1 lead.
 
BSC collected seven hits and plated seven runners to cut the lead to 9-8 in the third, but a rain delay stopped play for a short period of time. As play resumed, the Monarchs added another run to extend their lead to 10-8 after Cass doubled in Kachler.
 
The Panthers tied the game in the top of the fourth after two straight walks and a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position before a two-run single by Hunt made the score 10-10. A four-hit inning in the following frame added another three runs for BSC as it took its first lead of the contest, 13-10.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, a two-out triple by Carter led to another run for the Monarchs as Richardson laced a single to cut the lead to 13-11. The Panthers picked up three runs in the seventh and six runs in the eighth to make the final, 22-11.
 
Josh Robledo started on the hill and pitched 1.1 innings allowing seven runs on eight hits with a walk. A total of six pitchers took the mound for MU. Tyler Carmen (0-1) was settled with the loss after throwing 1.1 innings and allowed three runs on four hits. Andy Hammond got the start for the Panthers and went 2.0 innings, yielding nine runs, but just one earned, on seven hits. Tristan Harvin (1) threw 3.0 innings scattering three hits and yielding one run to get his first save of the year.
 
Cass and Richardson each recorded three hits, while Cass also scored twice. Kachler collected two hits and scored two runs. The Monarchs finished with 15 hits coming from nine different players.
 
Methodist returns to the diamond on Feb. 14, against Lynchburg at Armstrong-Shelley Field beginning at 4 pm.