MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 20th-ranked UWF baseball team was unable to overcome a fast start by Montevallo in an 11-5 loss at Bob Reisner Stadium on Friday.
UM (24-8, 9-6 Gulf South) scored the first seven runs of the contest and hit four home runs to force UWF to play catchup from the start. The Falcons had 16 hits agaiinst four UWF pitchers.
UWF (17-11, 12-4) finished with just six hits and struck out 15 times – one shy of its season high.
Brady Browning reached base four times and had the only multi-hit game for the Argonauts. He scored both times he drew a walk.
Alden Davis and
Jadon Fryman both had 2-run base hits when UWF was cutting into the UM lead in the sixth and seventh innings.
The Falcons scored a run in the first and broke out for four in the third when they got back-to-back home runs from Reed Latimer and Riley Cain for a 5-0 lead.
They pushed two more across an inning later when Brooks Cooner led off with a solo homer and Matt Simon scored on a Jake Smallwood single a few batters later.
UWF opened the sixth with a Browning walk and a
Mark Townsend single. Davis followed with a 2-run double to trim the deficit to 7-2.
The Falcons loaded the bases in the home half of the sixth and plated one on a Cain sacrifice fly.
The Argos mounted their best rally in the seventh, scoring three runs on just one hit. They loaded the bases with three walks to start the inning and made it four-in-a-row when Browning drew a free pass to score
Trent Jeffcoat. Fryman's 2-run single followed but that was all the offense they could manufacture as
Travis Gregory struck out and
True Fontenot flied out.
UM got the three runs back in the bottom of the seventh to halt the UWF momentum.
Gino Cozzi (5-3) struck out nine in five innings for the win, while
Tyler Dowdy (4-3) lasted just three innings in a losing effort.
The teams will meet again on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader.
