CENTRAL, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan baseball got back into the win column with a dominating 9-3 victory over Montreat in the first game of a three-game set on Friday evening.
The Warriors took advantage of early mistakes by the Cavaliers, turning five errors in the first two innings into seven runs. SWU (6-6) also collected six hits during those innings. Zack Oberlies knocked home a run in the first with a single after a groundout and an error brought home the first two runs. Mike Hyman and Tyler Bice set the table with a single and a walk to get things started.
In the second Joe Henderson led off with double to deep center field and later scored on another Montreat (4-5) error. Henderson came through with a pair of doubles. Hyman picked up his second hit of the game in the second, scoring Matt Arant. Tyler Bice followed with the first of his two hits. Later in the inning Tyler Lollis knocked in a run as the Cavaliers threw the ball around the field in the inning, committing four errors which led to three unearned runs in the inning.
The Warriors got a strong pitching performance from Andrew Howard in his first start of the season. Howard (1-0) pitched six strong innings, allowing just four hits and a pair of unearned runs. He struck out five and walked just one. SWU committed two of their three errors in the sixth inning which led to two Montreat runs.
Four players had multi-hit efforts for the Warriors as they pounded out a season-high 13 hits. In addition to Hyman, Bice and Henderson, Daniel Williams also had two hits as he continues his hot stretch. All eight RBI came from a different player. Hyman and Bice each scored two runs. Hyman also stole three bases and Bice swiped two.
Montreat starter Jordan Watts was knocked out in the second inning after getting just four outs, due in large part to the bad defense behind him. Only three of the seven runs charged to him were earned. Four relievers combined to allow seven hits and two runs over the final 6.2 innings.
These two teams will hook up for a doubleheader on Saturday, playing two seven-inning games beginning at 12 p.m.
