PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- A ninth-inning rally fell just short as the University of Pikeville baseball team lost 11-10 to 23rd-ranked Cumberlands on Friday at Johnnie LeMaster Field.

The win improves the Patriots' season record to 37-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 in Mid-South Conference play, while the Bears drop to 22-15 overall and 4-6 in league play.

Cumberlands winning seemed all but certain heading into the bottom of the ninth with an 11-6 lead. But UPIKE opened the frame with a double by Nelson Muniz who would later score on a single by Matt Peterson to start the rally.

After two hit batters and a walk, Cumberlands had to go to the pen. But before Hampton Clark tallied his first save of the season, he gave up an RBI hit to Travis Haen and another run came home on an error, making it 11-10 with two outs.

With Haen, the tying run, waiting patiently on second, UPIKE was unable to bring him home as Alec Barba flew out to right field to end the threat.

Peterson, the MSC's leading batter coming into the game, didn't disappoint, going 4-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Muniz was the other Bear with multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a double as well.

Andrew Ramos led the Patriots with three hits and three RBIs, while Bryan Benz was the early hero in the second inning by belting a two-run home run to left.

That 2-0 lead held up until the fourth inning when UPIKE pushed a run across when Jorge Perez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Both teams scored four runs each in the sixth before Cumberlands built an 8-6 lead in the seventh on a two-run double by Benz.

Cumberlands took control of the game in the eighth inning when it scored three unanswered runs on three hits and two errors. That made it 11-6, a lead that looked insurmountable at the time, but was ultimately tested to the brink in the ninth.

UP NEXT

UPIKE and Cumberlands complete the series at Noon ET on Saturday with a doubleheader at Johnnie LeMaster Field.

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