Cats Drop Twin Bill to No. 5 Patriots in MSC Openers
MCKENZIE, Tenn. -The Bethel Wildcats opened up conference action Saturday hosting the No. 5 Patriots of the University of the Cumberlands.
In game one, the Patriots pushed across single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. Caden Petrey homered to give the Pats the lead in the second. Evan St. Claire had singles driving in the other two runs.
The Wildcats scored in the sixth when Zach Griffith drove in Noah Foster with a triple.
Tyler Proctor was the hard-luck loser for the Wildcats. UC's Cesar Avila left the game with two outs in the sixth after holding the Wildcats to just four hits. The Wildcats put runners at first and second in the bottom of the seventh, but Chipper Korbacher snuffed out the Wildcat would be rally to save the game for the Pats who won 3-1. UC had nine hits in the game.
Game two was a hitter's affair. The teams combined for 26 runs and 34 hits.
Cumberlands took an early lead on a three-run homer by Max Harper in the first.
Jared Hall hit his second homer of the season in the bottom of the first to cut the Wildcat deficit to 3-1.
The Pats plated four runs in the second to take a 7-1 lead. Noah Hawkins scored on a passed ball to make it 7-2 after two innings.
Cumberlands scored six in the top of the third to take a 13-2 lead. Highlighting the inning was another homer by Harper. Charlie Muniz hit his leading league 13th homer earlier in the inning.
Bethel pushed across two runs in the fourth to make it 13-4.
Muniz and Harper each hit solo shots in the fifth to lead 15-4.
Bryan Catala drove in a run with a fielder's choice in the fifth. UC led 15-5 after five.
After the Patriots extended their lead to 16-5 in the seventh, the Wildcats battled back with RBI's by Cade Pilkinton, Jose Olmeda and Ivan Vega (2) in the bottom of the inning. UC led 16-9 after seven innings.
Juan Diego drove in a run in the ninth but the Wildcats fell 16-10.
Bethel outhit UC 18-16.
Luke Boswell suffered the Wildcat loss.
Bethel fell to 19-5 and 0-2. UC moved to 22-4 and 2-0. The Pats have won seven in a row.
The teams play a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Stats:
https://bethelathletics.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/boxscores/20240312_0pd6.xml
Watch:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/watch