HUNTSVILLE, Ala.. - The Wildcats once again set a season-high in hits as they slugged their way to an 18-5 win over Alabama A&M for their fourth straight conference victory, Friday afternoon at Bulldog Baseball Field.
Bethune-Cookman (18-16, 11-2 SWAC) saw its recent sweet swinging continue as
Andrey Martinez slugged his SWAC-leading 15th homer of the season to give the Cats the early 1-0 lead in the first.
After Jorge Gonzalez singled, stole second, and advanced to third on the throw,
Jesus Vanegas plated him with an RBI single to double the lead at 2-0. He came in to score thanks to another Bulldog error as B-CU made it a 3-0 lead.
Alabama A&M (9-24, 2-11 SWAC) grabbed one back in the bottom of the second with a solo shot of its own that trimmed the deficit to 3-1.
Another B-CU solo shot, this time by
Jorge Rodriguez, made it 4-1. It is Rodriguez's eighth homer of the year, the fourth-best total in the conference.
The Bulldogs tied things up in the bottom of the third as they cleared the bases with an RBI double to make it 4-4.
After a quiet fourth, B-CU added three in the fifth on a Gonzalez Febo RBI double and Vanegas two-run bomb to dead center.
The Cats broke things wide open in the sixth off the AAMU bullpen, rallying for nine runs on seven hits including back-to-back triples to blow the doors off at 16-4. Six of the nine runs came with two outs with RBI from Martinez, Rodriguez,
Irvin Escobar,
Jeter Polledo,
Sergio Rivera, and
Darryl Lee.
AAMU put up another solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make it 16-5.
B-CU added two more in the seventh on a
Reinaldo Plascencia RBI double and
Daniel Figueroa pinch-hit RBI single.
Tanner Boccabello improved to 6-1 on the year after five innings of work in which he allowed four earned runs on seven hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.
Carlos Roses worked two innings, allowing one earned run on thre hits with two punchouts.
- The next homer for B-CU will be the Wildcats' 50th of the season.
- Nine Wildcats recorded RBI on the day, Rodriguez and Vanegas led with three each.
- Eight Wildcats enjoyed multi-hit afternoons.
Game two of three is set for a 1 p.m. EST start Saturday.
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--#HailWildcats--
