Laurinburg, NC – After getting a pair of wins yesterday over Pfeiffer University and St. Andrews University, the Patriots would be on the other side of things on Saturday, falling in two close fought games. The Knights would knock off UC 2-1 before the Patriots would fall victim to the Falcons 6-5. The pair of losses pushes Cumberlands' overall record to 4-3 on the young season.
 
In game one today against St. Andrews, it was a pitcher's duel between UC's Josh Avila and SAU's Trevor Maly. Through six innings of play, neither pitcher gave up a run while giving up just three hits each. Avila would strike out five and walk no one while Maly sat down two on strikes and walked two.
 
In the seventh, the Patriots would strike first on the scoreboard. With one down, Reed Spata would hit a single into center. After advancing to second on a stolen base, Spata would move to third on a fly out to center, now with two down. An errant pitch though would allow Spata to come in to score, giving UC a 1-0 lead. Two more Patriots would find themselves on base via walks with two down, but Maly would find an out to get out of the inning, giving St. Andrews a chance to tie or walk off in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Nicholas Purpera would come in for the save, but it would not come to pass. After allowing a single to lead off the inning, another Knight would reach on a bobble by Roberto Prado, putting runners at the corners with no one down. After a 2-6 putout on a fielder's choice, runners would remain on the corners with one down. A single by Emerson Gross would drive in a run to tie the game at 1-1, putting two on with still just one out. Garrett Vathroder would then enter the game for UC. After walking his first batter, a wild pitch would allow Maliq Johnson to score from third, giving the Knights a 2-1 win over UC. Vathroder would be tabbed with the loss after earning a win the previous day.
 
Game two against Pfeiffer was much more offensive minded. In the top of the first, UC would get the scoring started with a one-out, solo home run from Orley Arellano to give the Patritos a 1-0 lead. The Falcons would even it up in the bottom of the inning on a solo shot of their own from the bat of Jordan Eckard, tying the game at 1-1. UC would see the long ball again in the second inning on a solo home run by Daniel Diaz, making it 2-1 Pats. Once again, Pfeiffer would answer. After a leadoff double and a hit-by-pitch putting two on, a sac bunt would advance the runners 90 feet each, putting two on in scoring position with one down. An errant pitch would then allow the runners to advance again, scoring one to tie the game at two apiece.
 
Arellano would hit his second home run of the day in the top of the third, this one also a solo shot, pushing the Pats out front 3-2, but again the Falcons would find a run on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3-3. Cumberlands would regain the lead in the fourth on a RBI single from Britton Elmore, bring home Diaz to make it 4-3 UC. In the bottom of the fifth, Pfeiffer would score on a RBI single of their own to tie the game at 4-4.
 
The Patriots would get the lead one more time in the top of the sixth as an errant pitch would allow Alex Dominguez to score after reaching with a single, giving UC a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the inning though, the Falcons would take the lead for good with a two-run home run from Eckard, making it 6-5 Pfeiffer. Cumberlands would attempt to rally with back-to-back singles from Diaz and Dominguez with two outs, but a fly out would end the game as UC would fall to the Falcons.
 
The loss would be credited to Lucas Jones who came in for a relief appearance for UC. He went 1.1 innings allowing two runs on one hit while striking out two. Starter Cody Spencer went three innings allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk while sitting four down on strikes.
 
Next on the schedule for the Patriots are the Bearcats of Brescia University on Saturday, February 24^th for a doubleheader. Game one is slated to begin at 3 pm. Make sure to stay tuned to the social media accounts of UC as well as the UC Athletics website for updates on the UC baseball schedule as weather has changed a number of contests already this season.
 
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