WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – The University of Pikeville baseball team was outhit a combined 18-8 in a pair of losses at Cumberlands in both teams' Mid-South Conference openers on Thursday.
UPIKE was shutout in the nine-inning opener 7-0 before hanging close for a 2-1 loss in the seven-inning nightcap.
The Bears (13-7, 0-2 MSC) had just four hits in each game and Justin Beatty collected two in each of them. Beatty was 2 for 4 in the opener, before going 2 for 3 with a triple in game two. Jorge Perez added a double in game one and Travis Haen recorded the team's lone RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Noah Gapp was dominant in game one, throwing a complete nine innings with 10 strikeouts to improve to 5-1 on the season. Dalton Dahley did his job on the mound for UPIKE in game two, allowing two runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts, but the offensive help never came. The Patriots' Manny Castellano took advantage, scattering three hits for a single run with six batters struck out to move to 3-1.
Nicholas Purpera preserved the 2-1 Cumberlands (16-6, 2-0 MSC) lead in the seventh inning by striking out a pair to register his fourth save of the season.
Cumberlands opened the day with four runs in the first inning and that ended up being more than enough for the win with Gapp dealing. Insurance came in the fifth with two more runs before adding another in the seventh. Chase Schmittou and Guillermo Villegas both went deep for the Patriots.
Bryce Carden (2-3) took the loss after giving up six runs on nine hits in six innings with four strikeouts.
Villegas went deep again in game two, but two of the other three extra-base hits were UPIKE's in a much different game. Alex Barba added a double for the Bears and Beatty has his triple.
There were no big leads, instead Cumberlands went on top first with one run in the third inning when Jesse Reyes hustled home on a third-strike wild pitch by Dahley. UPIKE got even in the fifth when Josh Bailey walked, stole two bags, then scored on Haen's lift to the outfield.
But the Patriots took the lead for good in the next frame when Villegas led off with a shot to left field on a 3-2 count.
Barba led off the seventh with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch, but never got to score the tying run as the Bears' final two batters struck out.
UP NEXT
UPIKE and Cumberlands will close out the series with a single, nine-inning game at 2 p.m. ET on Friday in Williamsburg.
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