BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Third-seeded Cumberland (Tenn.) spoiled a solid starting pitching performance and comeback bid in the eighth inning by sixth-seeded University of Pikeville with a trio of home runs and a big eighth inning in the opening round of the Mid-South Conference Baseball Tournament on Thursday.
The Phoenix ended up winning 12-9, but that was after four lead changes and one tie in a game that had a little bit of everything.
UPIKE scored runs on errors, strings of hits and fielder's choice groundouts, but those mundane ways to get on the scoreboard didn't compare to the Phoenix hitting a pair of 2-run home runs and one more solo shot for good measure. The latter gave Cumberland a 5-4 lead before ending the seventh inning up 6-4 thanks to a Rayden Sierra double as well.
Still, the Bears, which had led 4-0 through three and a half innings, weren't done as they scored five runs on five hits and an error in the top of the eighth to regain the lead 9-6. Lucas Bault struck first with a single to score Jorge Perez and make it 6-5, then with two outs, Nelson Muniz and Matt Peterson hit back-to-back 2-run singles to give the Bears a comfortable three-run lead.
That comfortableness didn't last long though as reliever Chase Robinson, who had done his job getting the Bears out of the seventh, didn't have the same luck to start the eighth as the Phoenix (33-17) went walk, single, single, single, double, single, single before tallying an out on their way to six game-changing runs.
Robinson included, the Bears used three pitchers in the eighth inning alone. Aaron Hedgecock got the first out on a sac fly that made it 12-9 before striking out the final two batters.
Travis Haen singled and moved up to second on an error in the ninth, but that was it for UPIKE at the end of the back-and-forth affair.
Up until there were two outs in the seventh, UPIKE (26-22) starter Bruce Bell looked as good as ever before ending up allowing six runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and just one walk in 6 2/3 innings. UPIKE retaking the lead in the eighth took the decision from Bell as that ended up going to Sewell who falls to 3-1 after allowing three runs on three hits.
Blake Young, who blew a save opportunity in the eighth, ended up registering the win as he gave up two runs on three hits with one strikeout in the final inning and a third.
Earlier in the game, the Bears opened up a 4-0 lead with two runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth. While they had done that with five hits, Cumberland tied the game with just three hits as two of them were 2-run homers by Jared Schmidt and Nick Mira in back-to-back innings.
Peterson and Vincent led UPIKE with three hits each while Muniz and Peterson did the most damage with two RBIs each. Cumberland got a 4 of 5 showing with five runs batted in by Mira in the leadoff position.
The Bears are not out as they will face seventh-seeded Shawnee State (Ohio) in an elimination game at 10 a.m. ET on Friday.
-UPIKE-
