Cole Watts went deep in the first inning, and Montezuma never trailed against BGM. (Mia Boulton photos).The numbers told the story, and Montezuma’s intensity of play drove the numbers.
The Braves were ‘in your face focused’ and ‘right back at ‘ya relentless’ in a 15-5 in six innings baseball victory at home over the BGM Bears on Tuesday evening, July 14.
This Braves’ win came in a Class 1A district semifinal game. It sends Montezuma after a district championship on Saturday night, July 18.
The Braves will travel to Victor to face HLV, which edged Keota 3-2 in the other regional semi. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
BGM scored multiple runs in the first and fifth innings. Each time, the Braves answered with sass, doing the same in their half of the inning.
In between, Montezuma played ‘small ball add-on,” widening gaps between the teams when the Bears got close.
Cole Watts had the big blow early, a towering three-run homer into a 10-mile-an-hour south wind blowing out to left in the first inning. That put Montezuma up 4-2. The Braves never trailed after that – but the Bears kept it interesting.
Montezuma got a critical 5.2 innings from freshman starter Owen Cook, whose off-speed offerings kept some strong BGM hitters off balance.
Cook scattered six hits, but also threw seven wild pitches, hit a batter, and walked four. And . . .he struck out four.
But he always had the lead, thanks to a 15-hit attack from the Braves, who were menacing at the bat from one end of the lineup to the other.
Especially so: Shortstop Eddie Burgess, who went four-for-five, and Cook, who was three-for-five.
Montezuma delivered timely hits. KGRN’s Chris Varney recorded no less than eight Braves runs came in after two were out in innings.
The game, moved back to a 5 p.m. start to try and beat forecast bad weather, took more than three hours to complete. That included an 80-minute weather delay in the bottom half of the third inning.
When play resumed, Montezuma plated three runs in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead – but not complete control of the game.
Cook drove in two of the three with a looping double to left center, and Burgess hit a hard single to load the bases. Earlier, Watts and Preston Hirsch had reached base in an inning that included all three of BGM’s errors on the night.
BGM plated three in the fifth to cut the Montezuma lead to 7-5.The Braves turned a double play in the inning, second baseman Kodie Strong to shortstop Burgess to first baseman Cam Johnson.
But two wild pitches, a hit batter, two walks, two stolen bases and Noah Beck’s RBI hit led to the three BGM runs.
But here’s another place Montezuma answered, scoring two in the bottom of the fifth. Joey Kercheval drew a four-pitch walk, and Preston Hirsch doubled to left to drive him home.
Strong singled, then Burgess singled to drive home the second run and make it 9-5.
Braves Coach Josh Anderson stayed with Cook until the Bears advanced runners to second and third with two outs.
At this point, Anderson brought Watts in from center field to pitch, and he got the third out on a popup to Burgess at shortstop.
Montezuma closed it out with a six-run sixth inning. Kercheval and Hirsch had RBI singles and Burgess scored the final run on a BGM error.
The game was the final athletic event for BGM shortstop Noah Beck, who deserves a shout-out for a terrific career for the Bears.
Meanwhile, Montezuma seniors Brayden Arendt and Preston Hirsch are still going.
The Braves went to 7-6 with the victory. BGM closed an 8-5 campaign.
UP NEXT – Montezuma plays HLV in Victor on Saturday evening, July 18, at 7 p.m.
