PIPPA PASSES, Ky. -- UPIKE baseball are the winners of eight of their last 10 games after taking both ends of Tuesday's doubleheader at Alice Lloyd.

Game 1

The Eagles made the afternoon's first game a little close for comfort, but Pikeville was able to escape a late comeback and win 5-4.

UPIKE got on the board early with a run in the first. Tyler Menrath got on with a single then stole second. After two walks got him to third, he came in to score on a fielder's choice from Brendan Halstrom.

Alice Lloyd responded with two runs in the second on back-to-back solo home runs, but UPIKE leveled the game with a sacrifice fly from Pastor Sanchez.

That tie stood until the fifth inning when the Bears took the lead when Sanchez came through again on an RBI single to score Luke Lubiniecki.

Pikeville would add some insurance runs in the sixth inning of a seven-inning contest. UPIKE's first three batters reached to load the bases, but the Eagles almost got themselves out of trouble with a 1-2-3 double play. Halstrom, however, came through in the clutch with a 2 RBI single to score Menrath and Lubiniecki.

Those extra runs would wind up being crucial after Bears starter Chase McKinney appeared to run out of gas. After getting the first out, he walked the next two batters to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.

UPIKE then handed the ball to Justin Dziuba, who picked up an out, but allowed his two inherited runs to score. UPIKE then turned to its ace out of the pen in Aaron Hedgecock, who stopped the bleeding in the sixth and danced around a couple walks in the seventh to earn the save.

McKinney picked up his second win of the year with his 5.1 inning effort, while Hedgecock earned his third save.

Game 2

The Bears didn't mess around in the second game, taking home the 12-4 win.

UPIKE scored three unanswered runs to open the game with one in the first and two in the second. A pair of errors scored the game's first run, and the second run reached on a third error. Jacob Alvarado brought in the second run with a sacrifice fly, and Menrath earned another RBI with a double in the second.

Alice Lloyd would once again draw close with two runs in the second off a walk and double, but UPIKE would respond with a massive, five-run third inning. At one point in the inning, the Bears would string together seven straight batters reaching base.

Sanchez, Rodny Rodriquez (two), Alvarado, and Menrath would all record RBI hits in the rally, with Sanchez and Rodriquez's being doubles.

Pikeville added another run in the fourth on a RBI single from Luke Hartlage to score Dillon O'Grady and make the score 9-2 Bears.

The Bears finished its scoring run with a three-run fifth, complete with three hits, a hit batter, an error and a sacrifice fly.

The only other blemishes on starter Peyton Dove's outing was a two-run fifth inning for Alice Lloyd, neither of which were earned runs because of a pair of Pikeville errors.

UP NEXT

UPIKE will now turn its attention to this weekend's Mid-South series against Campbellsville. Weather permitting, the series will begin with a 3 p.m. first pitch at Johnnie Lemaster Field.

-UPIKE-