By RYAN WALKER
After putting up a zero spot against Norwell the night before, the Bluffton Tiger bats went wild Tuesday night.
The Tigers (4-5) slugged five runs in each of the third and fourth innings, capitalized by three two-run blasts. That led them to a 13-3 victory over Bellmont (1-3) in a six-inning mercy rule finish.
The night before, Bluffton only mustered five hits, but Tuesday was much different. The 14 hits and five walks ended with a Braxton Betancourt RBI single in the sixth.
Bluffton head coach Jason Pierce was happy with the Tiger hitters approach to the plate, making adjustments to the Braves starter, Beau Baker.
“I think that’s a product of yesterday,” Pierce said. “We didn’t do a good job at swinging the bat and putting the ball in play yesterday to give ourselves a chance to win when we had runners on base.”
It started in the third inning, where Bellmont’s righty, Baker, went through the first two innings without a scratch. He has had success this season in his 7.1 innings of work with a 2.86 ERA and seven strikeouts, but the Tigers figured him out rather quickly.
Brody Lewis drove in Betancourt on an RBI single to end the scoreless tie. Then, Griffin Morgan pulled Baker’s next at-bat to deep left field for a two-run home run. A.J. Streveler singled right after to set up another two-run shot, this time via Lukas Gehrett to put the Tigers in the lead 5-0.
The Braves scraped across three runs off of Streveler in the top of the fourth inning, but the Tigers kept pouring on the runs for another five spot in back-to-back frames.
Betancourt ripped a double to deep centerfield, feet away from homer No. 2 of the season. For the second time, Lewis drove him in with an opposite-field double in the gap. Streveler’s RBI single knocked out Baker and in came the bullpen for Bellmont.
After Baker left the game, the Braves threw in pitchers that hadn’t seen action on the mound since last season. It was the ideal gameplan against a good starting pitcher, but one that the Tigers figured out.
“We put the ball in play, I mean, we struck out twice but I think we got our rhythm there to time (Baker) up and realize he was a two-pitch pitcher and felt like we were pretty dialed into his curveball at that point,” Pierce said. “We started being aggressive with knowing he was starting soft with fastballs on 0-0 counts. We got him. We got after him.”
In the fifth inning, Streveler belted a two-run home run to increase the Tigers’ lead to nine before ending it in the sixth.
Streveler finished his day 3-4 at the plate with three RBI while finishing his 3.1 innings of work, allowing three runs. He walked six and struck out five.
But the pitcher that kept Bellmont in check was junior pitcher Cameron Williams, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He struck out one, but allowed no hits and one walk to keep Bellmont off the bases.
“It doesn’t hurt to have Cameron Williams, who has been coming in a lot of situations for us when we need strikes,” Pierce said. “Cam does a good job keeping them off balance. He’s got ice in his veins up there too. I just think he does a great job handling the pressure.”
Streveler earned the win on the mound for the Tigers.
Bluffton will visit Canterbury at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 16.
