Portsmouth, OH – Bears baseball finished a tough weekend stretch with a pair of losses to Shawnee State Saturday afternoon, giving the series sweep to SSU. Noah Helton highlighted the Bear's scoring attack with a two-run home run in the third inning.
With three more conference series remaining on the schedule, the Bears sit at 14-22 overall and 4-10 in MSC competition.

Game 1 | UPIKE 5 - Shawnee State 9

Saturday's opening game saw the Bears record their lowest hit total of the series with five. The hot bat of Demarco Miller led the offense as the junior swung for a season high three hits including a triple and a home run. His four home runs on the season leads the Bears. Tyler Maynard and Tyler Freas accounted for the other two hits, while Maynard also crossed twice.

Jairemy Pulido picked up the loss, going for five innings in the start in which he gave up eight runs (4E) on eight hits. Pulido also struck out four and walked three. Nolan Fernandes offered a shutout inning to close the game.

A leadoff home run set the tone for Shawnee State who added two more in the third. UPIKE made it a one run game in the fourth via a SAC fly from Ryan Sartin, scoring Maynard who reached on a leadoff single. The Bears then tied the game the following inning with an RBI groundout from Maynard but a five-run inning from SSU in the fifth buried the Bears.

Miller shined again with an RBI triple in the sixth to make it 8-5 but neither team had gas left in the tank the final inning as Shawnee closed out the win.

Game 2 | UPIKE 4 – Shawnee State 9

The bats picked up for the Bears in game two as they tagged 10, led by Helton who went 2-5 with a home run. Maynard connected on a pair of hits alongside Sartin. Both Sartin and Miller busted doubles, Miller notching his fifth straight game with a hit.

Austin Wetherington picked up the loss, going 2.1 innings in a start in which he allowed three runs on five hits. Grayson Harris relieved in the third and went five innings, giving up six runs. Fernandes closed the game, tossing the final two outs.

Production was quiet for both teams through the first two innings before the Bears ended the draught with a two-running inning in the third. Helton's home run scored Torres and gave the Bears their lone lead of the game. Shawnee answered with a homer in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-2 lead.

SSU added three more runs before UPIKE struck again in the eighth via a Miller double and an error. The teams headed into the final inning with Shawnee state leading by five runs. Samuel Torres led off the ninth with a single but the Bears couldn't put a run across.

UPIKE baseball returns to action with a matchup against (22) Bluefield on Tuesday, April 5^th on the road.