On Tuesday, April 10^th, the University of the Cumberlands (UC) baseball team was on the road as they traveled to Berea, Kentucky to take on the Mountaineers of Berea College. 

In game one the Patriots jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning.  Evan Bennett (Winchester, KY) hit a triple into right centerfield and later scored on an infield single from Jared Martin (Cynthiana, KY).  Sam Pepper (Tabernacle, NJ) then hit a double moving both runners into scoring position.  Brandon Napier (Hazard, KY) was next to the plate and he delivered a 2 RBI double.

The Patriots would add 3 more runs over the next 3 innings compared to the Mountaineers 2 that had the lead at 6-3 after four.  The big play was in the third inning when Brandon Napier hit a triple and scored a batter later when Andrew Fox (Seymour, TN) hit a sac fly to right.

Both teams would tack on one more run apiece putting the final score at 7-4 in favor of the Patriots.  Getting the win for Cumberlands was Duncan Kaai-Ebert (Kapolei, HI; 4-1) who pitched 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 7 hits with 4 strikeouts.  The save went to Quentin Bowman (Knoxville, TN) who pitched the seventh allowing 1 run on 1 hit with 2 strikeouts.  It was his 5^th save of the season.  The loss was credited to Berea's McDaniel.

In game two the Patriots built a 5-1 lead heading into the fourth inning.  Evan Bennett hit a solo homerun in the first, Justin Jackson (Jacksonville, FL) hit a 2 RBI triple in the second scoring Jameson Debord (Lancaster, KY) and John Doolittle (Sharpsburg, GA) who both singled; and Blake Debacher (Miami, FL) scored on a sac fly from Jackson.

After 3 innings the Mountaineers got to Patriots starter Sandro Ferreira (Manhattan, NY) in the fourth when they knocked him out of the game.  Ferreira went 3.2 innings allowing 6 runs on 5 hits with 5 strikeouts.  In came Quinton Warriner (Russell Springs, KY) who went 2.1 innings allowing 1 run.

Berea gained the 7-5 lead, but UC wouldn't go away as they looked to chip away.  In the fifth they added a run when Jameson Debord scored on a single from Justin Jackson.  Then in the sixth with the Patriots trailing 7-6 Jameson Debord smashed a solo homerun over the left field fence to tie the game up at 7 apiece.  In the seventh Daniel Lokesak (Florence, KY) started the inning with a walk and Jackson used a sac bunt to move him to second.  Four pitches later Lokesak stole third and Evan Bennett hit a sac fly to right to score him giving UC the 8-7 lead.

In the bottom half the Patriots brought in closer Quentin Bowman once again to get the save; however, this time Berea would find a way to even the score.  After getting two outs, with two guys on base, a fly ball dropped into right field for a single scoring the runner from second to tie the game at 8 apiece.  The throw home got away from the catcher and allowed the winning run to come in for the walk off as Berea beat Cumberlands 9-8.

The win was credited to Berea's Mikie Scott.  The loss went to the Patriots Bowman.

Cumberlands is now 21-21 and 6-9 in the Mid-South Conference

For more information on the University of the Cumberlands baseball team you can follow them on twitter at @uccoachshelton or visit the athletics website http://www.cumberlandspatriots.com.