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| Joe Montgomery |
Solid pitching and gettng key hits normally add up to wins on the baseball diamond -- and that's what the Miners got Friday as they opened their home schedule with a pair of wins.
Starting pitchers Brandon Cogan and Tavish Hill combined to allow just three hits over 12 innings of work and the Miners scored 19 of their 22 runs on the afternoon after two outs as they posted wins of 9-1 and 13-2 over Truman State at the UMR Baseball Field.
The Miner offense got things going right from the start, sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning as they grabbed a 5-0 lead. A throwing error allowed the first run to score, then a two-out RBI single by Thomas McCormick, a triple by Joe Montgomery, a wild pitch and an infield single by Gerad Fox brought in the five tallies.
UMR knocked out Bulldog starter Andy Schulte in the second inning.
After Truman scored an unearned run off Cogan in the third, the Miners answered when Montgomery and McCormick executed a double steal to score the sixth run of the game. UMR then extended the lead with three runs in the sixth, as McCormick brought in one with a sacrifice fly and Owen Madison drove in a pair with a two-out hit.
UMR had 11 hits in the opener with Fox, McCormick and Montgomery having two apiece. Cogan earned his first collegiate win with a strong six-inning outing, allowing just two hits and fanning three.
In the nightcap, Hill continued the Miners' mastery over the Bulldog hitters as he gave up one hit over the first six frames as he faced just two batters over the minimum. He left the game with 1-0 lead on Montgomery's RBI ground out in the third, but the win was assured once he left the game as the Miner bats came to life again.
UMR sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and tallied seven runs off three Bulldog pitchers to bust the game open. All seven UMR runs scored after two were out, the first of which came when Fox reached on an infield single with the bases loaded.
Robby Martin followed by belting a two-run double down the right field line, then Montgomery drove in two more with a single to right. McCormick finished the scoring with another double to plate two more runs and give UMR an 8-0 lead heading into the seventh.
Montgomery finished a terrific afternoon at the plate with an inside-the-park grand slam in the seventh that made it 12-0. The senior outfielder finished the day with five hits in seven at-bats, with four runs scored, two extra base hits and eight runs batted in -- seven of the RBI came in the nightcap.
Montgomery had three hits in the second game as did Kris Hamilton, while Martin and Eaf Redden had two hits apiece. UMR had 14 hits in the nghtcap.
The four Miner pitchers who saw work Friday -- Cogan, HIll, Mark Phillips (one inning in game one) and Matt Campbell (three innings in game two) -- combined to give up just four hits and no earned runs in 16 innings.
UMR evened its record at 3-3 on the season and is scheduled to host the Bulldogs (0-4) in a single game Saturday at noon.
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