MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Wildcats used late inning dramatics in both of their wins over No. 2 Faulkner Friday afternoon in their SSAC twin bill. The Cats won game one 5-4 and captured game two 8-5 in ten innings.
In game one Faulkner's Trystin Rakes gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the top of the fourth. Bethel's Nicholas Proto answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning. It was his seventh dinger of the season. Later in the frame Randy Guevarez hit his fourth career homer. The two run shot gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead. In the top of the sixth Faulkner's Jacob Freeland tripled in a run and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 3-3. Bethel's Brandon Degnegaard pitched well for six innings. He was replaced by Antonio Costas who pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Sebastian Cortes walked with one out in the seventh. Jacob Foster singled to put runners at first and second. Both advanced on an Alex Carrillo wild pitch. Juan Torres was intentionally walked to load the bases. With two outs, Jack Surber drew a bases loaded walk to hand the Cats the 4-3 victory. Costas picked up the win while Faulkner starter Antonio Frias suffered his first loss of the season and fell to 6-1.
Game two saw the Eagles jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Bethel answered with an Austin Brenner RBI single in the bottom of the inning. Faulkner scored two runs in the second and two more runs in the fourth to grab a 5-1 lead. The Wildcats scored two runs in the eighth with the big hit being a RBI double by Foster. The Cats tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. After Brenner and Surber drew walks they would score on a throwing error by Faulkner. In the tenth Torres singled and a walk to Surber put the Cats in a position to win. With two outs Proto delivered a three run shot that cleared the scoreboard in left center to send the Wildcat dugout and their fans into a frenzy. Giovannie Nieves picked up the win while Heath Olive was the losing hurler for the Eagles.
The Wildcats moved to 23-16 overall and 12-9 in the SSAC. Faulkner fell to 34-10 and 18-3.
Coach Rusty Thompson expressed how proud he was of his squad. "We are banged up and beat up pretty bad after the long month of March. We've had a lot of guys play through some pain and had a lot of guys step up and fill in the gaps. I feel we haven't reached our ceiling yet and hope we continue to get better each week." He added, "To sweep a day versus Faulkner says so much as you don't just luck up and do that. Today showed so much about how these guys can fight. It also shows the talent and depth we have. I couldn't be more proud of this group of young men."
The Wildcats remain at home hosting Lindenwood University-Belleville Wednesday with action beginning at 2 p.m.
Live stats:
http://www.dakstats.com/Websync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10
Live video:
http://www.bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
