Athens, TN – UPIKE baseball took on the top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday afternoon, falling 10-4. The Bears held an early lead but were buried by a big seven run inning by TWU in the fourth.
Following the last regular season game of the season, the Bears head into conference tournament play with a 12-32 (6-18 MSC) record.
Tyler Freas blasted his first homerun of the season against the Bulldogs on a two-run knock in the top of the seventh inning. Freas leads the team with a .368 average (among players with at least 100 at-bats) and has also clubbed a team high 53 hits. The COVID freshman also has the second most triples in the MSC with 5 on the season.
Zach Hill had a breakout game in his third start of the season, going 2-4 with an RBI.
Noah Helton and
Demarco Miller also finished with a pair of hits and both notched a run scored.
Braxton Ratliff got the call for his fourth start of the season, going two innings allowing two hits and one earned run.
Jairemy Pulido got two innings of work and allowed three hits and a pair of runs while
Ty Crall pitched five outs giving up a pair of hits and four runs. Both
Ethan Cernohous and
Grayson Harris provided an inning, with Harris holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the seventh.
John McKenzie sparked a solid stretch for the Bears in the top of the second, knocking a double to left field.
Demarco Miller followed up with a bunt for a base hit before
Ryan Albers ripped an RBI single that scored McKenzie and tied the game at 1-1. Hill stepped up to the plate and gave UPIKE the lead with a single through the hole, scoring Miller.
Both teams went scoreless in the third and it was Tennessee Wesleyan who would pick back up in the bottom of the fourth, scoring seven runs. The Bulldogs added two more in the fifth and UPIKE would cross two more in the seventh via Freas' homer. The eighth and ninth innings yielded no runs for either squad as TWU won their 44
th game of the season.
The Bears will face Freed-Hardeman in the opening round of the 2021 Mid-South Conference Tournament on Friday, April 30
th. First pitch from Carnes Field in Henderson, TN is set for 5PM.