Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3
Cleveland, Ga. | The Truett McConnell University baseball team welcomed the Rams of Bluefield College for a weekend series on March 30th and 31st. The Bears offense caught fire this weekend as they posted a total of 29 runs over the 3-game series. Despite the offensive outburst of runs, Bluefield Collge was able to take two out of the three games in the series.
 
Game 1

In the opening game of series, the Bear's offensive tore out the gates, posting single runs in the each of the first 4 innings.

Heading into the 5th inning, the Bears held a 4-1 lead over Bluefield. The Rams came out and scored 2 runs in the top half of the 5th, closing the gap to just one run. The Bears answered back in the bottom of the 5th, as Jackson Meadors was walked and Evan Bensch singled. They were driven home by Andrew Fogarty off of his double to deep left. Later in the inning, Davis Dasher doubled to center to drive in Fogarty and give the Bears a 7-3 lead.

The game continued to go back and forth as both offenses battled. In the 6th inning, both teams pushed across 3 runs to leave the Bears up 10-6 at the end of 6 innings.

Bluefield's bats became hot in the 7th inning and proved to be too much for the Bears. The Rams scored 4 runs in the 7th inning, 7 runs in the 8th inning, and 2 runs in the 9th inning. 

The Bears did not have an answer for Bluefield's run as they posted only two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. The final score was 19-12.

The Bears would fall to Bluefield in Game 1, 19-12.


Notable performances:

Andrew Fogarty 4-5, 4 RBI's and 3 2B
Davis Dasher 3-5 1 2B 1RBI
 
Game 2

In Game 2 of the series, the hot offense of both the Bears and Rams carried over from Game 1.

In the bottom of te 1st, the Bears looked to take an early lead with bases loaded and no one out, after Bishop doubled, Johnston singled up the middle, and Bishop scored. Johnston later scored on a bunt perfectly executed by Austin Thomas to take a 2-0 lead.

The Rams answered back with 4 runs in the top of 2nd inning to claim the lead at 4-2 lead.

The Bears closed the Rams lead down to 4-3 in the bottom of the 2nd. The Rams answered by scoring a run in the top of 3rd inning to extend the lead to 5-3.

From the 3rd inning through the 6th inning, the Rams scored 8 unanswered runs, pushing their lea to 13-3.

Looking to make a late push to regain the lead, the Bears answered big time in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Bears scored 13 runs in the 6th inning, including a 3-run homerun off the bat of Josh Johnston and a 2-run homerun off the bat of Jackson Meadors to snatch the lead from the Rams at 16-13. 

The Rams would try to answer, but they came up short. The Bears would take Game 2 of the series by a score of 16-15.


Notable Performances:

Austin Bishop 3-3
Josh Johnston 2-5 6 RBI 1HR
Jackson Meadors 1-4 2RBI  
James Civelli 3-3
 
Game 3 

With the series tied at one a piece, the Bears sent Greg Elder to the mound trying to take the series. Elder currently leads the Appalachian Athletic Conference in strikeouts.

A quiet Game 3 of the series would lead to the Bears falling to Bluefield in Game 3, 5-1. 
 

The Bears will look to get back on track Tuesday, April 3rd, as they travel to Central, SC., to take on Southern Wesleyan University. The Bears won their first matchup with Southern Wesleyan earlier in the season off an Andrew Fogarty walk-off homerun. The Bears currently hold a 7-8 conference record and a 17-14 overall record.