Eagles Complete the Sweep at Montreat Behind Steady Pitching
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
Montreat, NC - Reinhardt Baseball completed the three-game sweep on Saturday afternoon in North Carolina. The Eagles opened a four-run cushion in the second inning and carried it the rest of the way Saturday, beating Montreat 6-3 at Newell Field in Montreat, North Carolina. The decisive stretch came in the top of the second, when the Eagles turned an error, a walk and a fielder's choice into an unearned run before Juan Pablo Morales added an RBI single to help build a 4-0 lead.
That early burst gave Reinhardt control of the third game of the series. The Eagles added on in each of the next two innings, first when Brock Sisson grounded out to third and drove in Jackson Rains in the third, then when Rains singled through the left side in the fourth to push the advantage to 6-0. Reinhardt finished with six runs on seven hits, drew six walks and put pressure on Montreat throughout the afternoon with five stolen bases.
Cedric Cullars, Rains and Morales paced the offense with two hits apiece. Cullars scored twice, drove in a run and stole two bases. Rains scored once and drove in one, while Morales added an RBI and a stolen base. Sisson also delivered a run-producing at-bat as Reinhardt made the most of its chances despite leaving six runners on base.
Montreat chipped away in the fifth. Tommy Ramos singled home a run, and Daniel Restrepo followed with a sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 6-2. Gustavo Gonzalez added an RBI double to left in the seventh, but Reinhardt did not allow the rally to grow beyond that.
On the mound, Reinhardt's staff combined to allow three runs on seven hits. Chris Oates worked 4.1 innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits while striking out six and walking two. Miles Morris earned the win after covering 1.2 innings, allowing one hit with one walk and one strikeout. Riley Gaskins, Austin Puett, and Dawson Radik finished out the game for the Eagles with each getting an inning of work. Radik handled the final inning for the save as Reinhardt closed out the victory and the sweep of the Cavaliers.
Montreat collected nine hits but stranded 10 runners and could not recover from Reinhardt's early surge. Jordon Hart took the loss for the Cavaliers. Reinhardt struck out 10 times at the plate, while Montreat's pitching staff recorded 12 strikeouts, but the Eagles' second-inning damage and steady late relief were enough to secure the 6-3 result in front of 30 spectators on a sunny afternoon.
Reinhardt is inching their way back to .500 with their overall record at 14-19 and they have a winning record in AAC play at 8-7. Next up for the Eagles is a road trip out of conference to Cumberland University in Tennessee on Tuesday. After this, the team will welcome AAC powerhouse Tennessee Wesleyan to Waleska for a weekend series on April 3rd - 4th.
