University of the Cumberlands Athletics

Charlie Muniz earned athlete of the week honors after hitting .538 going 7-13 with six homers and 10 RBI over the Patriots three opening round games.  Muniz opened the NAIA Opening Round with a solo shot in the third inning against Reinhardt to make it 3-0 in favor of the Patriots.  The sophomore added a single and a walk as UC notched the 13-5 win to advance in the winners bracket.  The Naranjito, Puerto Rico native followed that up by going 3-5 with three homers and four RBI in Cumberlands 18-4 win over Columbia to advance to the championship game.  Muniz opened the game with a two-run shot in the first inning, before adding a solo homerun in the third to give the Patriots a 5-0 lead.  Muniz capped off the day by tying the NAIA Opening Round record with three homers in a game and helped UC set the record with nine homers as team in the game as Muniz added a solo shot in the top of the ninth inning.  In the championship game against the Cougars, Muniz once again led off with a two-run homer in the first inning.  With the Patriots trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh and two-out, Muniz crushed a three-run homer to centerfield to put Cumberlands back in front.  That was Muniz’s sixth homer of the opening round, which is a new NAIA Opening Round Record.