Freshman Noah Brooks took a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th to give the University of Pikeville a 5-4 win over Shawnee State on Sunday afternoon.
The win was UPIKE's eighth in a row and its eighth in a row and gave it seven straight wins against Mid-South Conference competition. The Bears now stand 16-15 overall, 9-8 in the league.
Brooks, the starting left fielder from Cloverdale, B.C., reached base three times in the win, including on the game's final pitch.
The 11th began with the Bears trailing 4-3 after allowing a run in the top of the innings. The action began with one out when grad student Kyle Williams walked. He immediately stole second and third and scored when junior Tyler Maynard laced a single to right field.
From there, the Bears never saw another strike. Consecutive walks to juniors Noah Helton and Greg Lile loaded the bases, and when Brooks was hit by a pitch, the Bears walked off with the win.
Shawnee State (3-27, 2-16) had just taken the lead in the top of the frame when sophomore Tyler Lund singled to centerfield to score his brother Tanner Lund, who reached on a one-out single.
UPIKE had a 3-2 lead heading into the ninth inning before SSU rallied to tie it. Pinch hitter Zach Gaspar led off the inning with a walk. He moved to second on a groundout and scored when the Bears tried to turn a double play but Tyler Lund beat the throw at first. The run evened the score at 3-3, and when UPIKE couldn't score in the bottom of the ninth, sent the game to extras.
Prior to that, all the scoring had taken place in the sixth inning. Shawnee got the action going with a pair in the top of the inning with a pair of sacrifice flies off the bats of junior Noah Sniadach and sophomore Diego Mendoza to make it 2-0.
UPIKE answered in the bottom of the frame. Maynard delivered the first run with a single to left to score freshman Tate Walters, who was hit by a pitch, and Helton followed with an RBI single of his own, delivering Williams, who had reached on a walk, to even the score at 2-2.
Maynard scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.
Maynard had two of his team's five hits on the day; all were singles. Williams, Helton and Brooks added the others.
Shawnee State had seven singles as well, with Tyler Lund and Sniadach having two each.
Ethan Cernohous (3-3) got the win for UPIKE, throwing the last three innings. He gave up three hits and two runs while striking out four. Starting pitcher Ryan Ratliff went the first six, striking out four and allowing two runs, one of which was earned.
Grayson Harris threw two innings, striking out two.
The pitcher of record for Shawnee State was sophomore Dylan Bernard. Sophomore Eric Oakes threw seven solid innings as the starter, striking out eight while walking only one.
UPIKE is slated to return to action on Tuesday, traveling to Bluefield to play the Rams.
--UPIKE--
