PIKEVILLE, Ky. – UPIKE baseball was one brutal inning away from its first doubleheader sweep of the season, but the Bears had to settle for a split with WVU-Tech on Wednesday.

Game 1 – UPIKE wins 11-5

UPIKE's offense came out in full force straight from the first pitch as the Bears scored eight runs in the first three innings en route to a 11-5 win.

The Bears scored four runs in the first inning with three coming on one swing. Tyler Menrath plated the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to score Noah Helton, then two batters later Demarco Miller hit a three-run home run.

Miller ended up with four RBIs in the game in just two at-bats with two walks in the game.

The rally carried through into the second inning where the Bears scored three more runs in small ball fashion.

West Virginia Tech scored all their runs on the day in just two innings. In the first game, all five runs came in the third inning which cut the Pikeville lead to 8-5.

UPIKE scored insurance runs in the fifth and sixth inning to push its lead to the final 11-5.

The top of the UPIKE order in Helton, Kase Mattingly, and Dillon O'Grady all had two hits in the game, as did Pastor Sanchez in the nine hold. Eduardo Bello had two RBIs for the Bears.

Kevin Justice picked up the win in his first career start which turned to a bullpen game as the Bears threw five pitchers in the game.

Jorden Davy and Ty Vann combined for four innings of hitless relief to close out the game.

Game 2 – WVU-Tech wins 7-2

The second game was a wild one as the Bears dropped a 7-2 decision.

All seven of the Golden Bears' runs came in the fourth inning as the Bears combined to throw six pitchers in the game.

Once again, Helton and O'Grady led the UPIKE offense with two hits each.

Pikeville scored first in the third after back to back singles and a sacrifice fly by Mattingly scored Sanchez.

WVU Tech scored all their runs on just three hits with four walks and a hit batsman.

The Bears got one back on an RBI groundout from Sanchez, but was unable to get any other runs through the rest of the game.

UP NEXT

UPIKE opens up the Mid-South Conference circuit on Friday when the Bears host Lindsey Wilson. First pitch from Johnnie LeMaster Field is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

-UPIKE-