March 17, 2008

                Montreat, NC--  In a makeup game of Saturday’s washout, the Bryan Lions and Montreat College Cavaliers took the field on Monday afternoon for an Appalachian Athletic Conference doubleheader. The Lions banged out 10 runs on 15 hits over the course of the two games, but couldn’t manage to keep the Cavaliers offense at bay, falling 18-7 in the opener, and losing 7-3 in the second game.

                After allowing 3 Cavalier runs in the bottom of the 1^st inning, the Lions answered by plating 5 runs of their own in the top of the 2^nd sparked by back to back rbi’s from Will Newman(Jr., Dayton, TN) and Brad Starnes(Sr., Matthews, NC). Newman would end up 3-for-4 on the day while Starnes was 2-for-3. Lions hurler Joey Mohler (Jr., Calhoun, AL) set the Cavaliers down quietly in the bottom of the second, but came undone in the 3^rd inning, as he struggled to find the strike zone and allowed 6 more runs before giving way to Daniel Bosarge(Jr., Rome, GA). The junior lefty did not fare much better, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits in just 2.2 innings of work.

                Bryan would add 2 more runs in the 4^th inning to cut the lead to 10-7, but Montreat exploded for 8 runs in the 6^th to push the lead to 11, and the Lions were unable to answer, falling in a 7 inning game shortened by the NAIA’s 10-run mercy rule  18-7. Mohler was credited with the loss for the Lions, with a final line of 9 runs (8 earned) on 6 hits with 4 walks and 3 hit batsmen in just 2 and 2/3 innings. Newman, Starnes, Jeremiah Peters (Sr., Sherwood, AR) and John Brown (So., Sherwood, AR) had RBI’s for the Lions in the loss.

                While Game 1 was an offensive explosion, game two was the complete opposite as the two teams combined for just 6 hits, but there were 14 combined walks which contributed most of the offense for the Cavaliers. The Lions again fell behind 3-0 early on a homerun to center field by Montreat 3^rd baseman Dane Phillips, but Michael Kent (Sr., Lookout Mtn, GA) answered with an RBI double deep to left in the 2^nd inning and John Brown added another run in the 3^rd on an RBI groundout. Again it was control problems that hurt the Lions as starter Adam Polston (Fr., Palmyra, TN) was unable to make it out of the 3^rd inning, finishing his day with 7 runs on just 2 hits because of 5 walks. Polston gave way to Mark Barnwell (Jr., Crab Orchard, TN) who threw two innings of no-hit baseball, keeping the Lions in the game. Matt Hicks (Jr., Soddy Daisy, TN) made his first appearance in conference and also threw 1 2/3 innings of hitless ball. In fact, after the first inning, the Cavaliers did not manage another hit, with all of their offense being generated by free passes from the Lions.

                Michael Kent would add another RBI late in the game to cut the lead to 7-3, but that was as close as the Lions would get. In a baseball rarity, the Lions out-hit their opponents, but failed to gain the victory, falling 7-3 while outhitting Montreat 4-2. Bryan totaled 10 walks in game 2, bringing their total for the two games to 20. Head Coach Joel Johnson was not pleased with his team’s pitching performance, and felt that the Lions had missed a golden opportunity to get a much needed conference win on the road: “We really hurt ourselves today. We’re putting ourselves in position to ‘have to’ win down the stretch against some tough teams like (Tennessee) Wesleyan, and Bluefield which we don’t want to be in. We’re talented enough to be in the mix when it comes to AAC play, but we won’t beat anybody walking 20 batters in a doubleheader. Our guys know what needs to be fixed, its just going to take some hard work and dedication on their part to get it right. I have faith in what we’re doing in practice to prepare for these games; we just need to translate what we’re doing in practice to the mound in games. Offensively, I was pleased in game 1, but pretty disappointed in game 2. Their pitcher had it going pretty good, but we need to find a way to pin some more runs on him when we’re struggling to stop them from scoring.”

                The losses drop the Lions to 11-15 on the year, while they have posted a 1-5 record in Appalachian Athletic Conference play. Next up for the Lions is a twinbill in Bristol on Saturday afternoon as they square off with the King College Tornado.