With few region opponents providing much of a test for the Bethlehem Christian Academy baseball team, the Knights have stepped up in competition in recent outings and have continued to enjoy success.
BCA defeated visiting Loganville Christian, a Class AAA team, 4-2 Tuesday. Jared Martin went the distance and recorded 15 strikeouts while limiting the Lions to three hits.
The Knights scored one run in the bottom of the first on an RBI single which scored Jordan Fountain.
BCA added one more in the third on an RBI single by Matt Masters which scored Brandon Hightower.
The final two runs for the Knights were scored in the bottom of the fourth inning when Hightower walked with the bases loaded to bring Chandler Garmon home. Ben Morgan would also score when Fountain walked.
“Loganville Christian is about 20 minutes away from us,” BCA coach Nick Pou said. “They have been dubbed our rival. This was the first time we’ve played their full varsity team. You could tell there is a rivalry between us. There was some talking among the players and even the coaches.”
The Knights coach was pleased with the effort by Martin in Tuesday’s contest.
“If you could have 15 players like him, it would be great,” Pou said. “He is a leader on and off the field.”
While BCA continues to have success on the diamond, Pou said it is important for his players to continue working each day.
“We need to continue to work on situational hitting,” the coach said. “We left too many runners on base again. We could have had more breathing room and we needed it because the game got close in the seventh inning. If we are able to score more runs earlier then it wouldn’t have been as close by the time we got to the seventh inning.”
Prior to Tuesday, the Knights defeated Class AA Piedmont Academy 14-5 in Monticello.
Fountain was the winning pitcher going the distance for BCA. Niko Mailloux, Matt Masters, Jared Martin and Brody German all had multiple hits and RBIs.
BCA had a rare loss Friday when it played up two classifications falling to Class AAA Dominion 10-4.
“We had base runners all night, we just couldn’t finish to break it open,” Pou said.
Masters was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double. Martin also had a double.
Mailloux started the game but the BCA coaches wanted to give Chance Spratlin a chance to pitch for the first time in 2012.
The Knights will host John Hancock Academy of Sparta in a Region 1-A contest Friday at 4:30 p.m.
