PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Behind a pair of quality starts on the mound, the University of Pikeville baseball team completed a four-game sweep of Saint Francis (Ind.) with a pair of 12-8 and 10-2 wins on Sunday afternoon at Johnnie LeMaster Field.

With the wins, the Bears move to 10-7 on the season, while the Cougars drop to 2-10.

UPIKE 12, St. Francis 8

UPIKE was forced to weather a late push by Saint Francis in the final inning as it tried to come back from a 12-0 deficit with eight runs.

The big inning came thanks to walks by Brady Harris and Mikhail McCowin and singles from Tyler Prince and Tanner Gaff. By the time Keaton Sullivan added an RBI double, a 12-run cushion was suddenly down to four.

Starter Bruce Bell, who lasted five innings, and Chase Robinson combined to shut out the Cougars, but UPIKE ended up having to use two more pitchers in the seventh alone to avoid a total collapse.

Both teams had 10 hits in the high-scoring affair, but the eight-run first that included half of the Bears' hits in the game proved to be too much to overcome, especially with Bell dealing on the mound. He surrendered zero runs on four hits over five innings, striking out three to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Kyle DeKoninck took the loss for Saint Francis as he allowed nine runs in six hits in over three and a third innings,

Jay Vincent, Brendan Halstrom and Travis Haen each managed to tally two hits for UPIKE as Vincent led the bunch with five RBIs.

UPIKE 10, St. Francis 2

UPIKE once again got things started in the first inning when Matt Peterson doubled to give it a 1-0 lead, followed by a sac fly by Vincent and Peterson scoring on an error to take an early three-run lead.

The Bears needed the hot start as St. Francis fought back in the second with its only two runs of the game.

UPIKE answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the second before going on to put the game away with a four-run fourth. Peterson, Vincent and Kase Mattingly all knocked in runs in the fourth inning to give the Bears a 9-2 lead.

A comeback wouldn't be in the cards for the Cougars as Jake Hamilton was dealing on the mound for UPIKE. The junior transfer threw six innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out seven batters without any walks.

Matt Fiorini took the loss for Saint Francis despite throwing only 1 2/3 innings as he allowed five runs on three hits with just one strikeout.

UPIKE outhit the Cougars 10-3 with Alec Barba, Luke Hartlage and Peterson all mashing two hits each. Peterson, Vincent and Nelson Muniz had all three extra-base hits in the game as they all roped doubles.

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UPIKE hosts West Virginia Tech at Noon ET on Tuesday.

-UPIKE-