UPIKE Baseball picks up doubleheader wins over Cincinnati Christian
0Written By Mason Blair
The University of Pikeville baseball team belted a combined three home runs in a doubleheader sweep of Cincinnati Christian on Tuesday, April 10, winning 16-0 in game one, followed by a 13-3 victory in game two at Johnnie LeMaster Field.
In game one, Chase McKinney had the best start of his UPIKE career, lasting all seven innings, allowing three hits and no runs while striking out two and walking just one batter.
Luke Lubiniecki, who would also double in the game, got the scoring started in the second inning when he drew a walk and the runs poured on from there. By the end of the frame UPIKE had an 11-0 lead. UPIKE saw the ball well all day, but especially in this game, as it racked up 16 hits. Matt Peterson, Luke Hartlage, Jay Vincent, Kase Mattingly, and Nelson Muniz all managed multiple hits, including doubles by Muniz and Haen. Peterson led UPIKE, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Muniz and Lubiniecki finished with a team-high four RBIs each.
In game two, after falling behind 2-1 in the top of the second inning of game two, UPIKE pulled away for good with two runs in the bottom half. Muniz singled to score the two go-ahead runs.
The Bears, up 3-2, added some runs in the third, scoring five runs behind the bats of Hartlage, Travis Haen, Alec Barba and Muniz, who each had RBIs in the inning. Charlie Cokley got the start and went three innings, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out three. Without enough innings to earn the win, that was given to Max Hall who kept the Bears ahead 8-3 in the fourth frame. Ryan Weber took the loss for Cincinnati Christian after allowing ten runs on 14 hits over four innings.
UPIKE tallied two home runs in this one, first off the bat of Brandon Sewell in the fourth inning, followed by Peterson going yard in the fifth to put his team up 13-3 where the score stayed for the next two innings.