Williamsburg, KY – After falling behind early on in the game, the bats of the Patriots would awaken quickly along with an outstanding relief appearance out of the UC bullpen to push Cumberlands to their 18^th straight win and a Mid-South Conference series sweep over the Bears of Shawnee State with an 18-9 win on Friday. The victory improves the Patriots to 22-3 overall on the year and 3-0 in MSC play.
 
Cumberlands would jump out front early in the opening inning on a solo home run by Raudy Martinez, his seventh of the season, giving UC a 1-0 lead. SSU would respond in the second with a two-run double from Christian Helton, pushing the Bears out front 2-1. The Pats would then answer with a two-run double of their own off the bat of Roberto Prado as they would retake the lead 3-2 after two complete.
 
The Bears would go on their largest offensive push in the third, plating three runs on a pair of doubles to make it 5-3 Shawnee State. After loading the bases again in the innings, the Patriots would make the move to their bullpen as starter Manny Castellano was chased out of the game. In would come Colton Easterwood and the Bears would get another run quickly off a bases loaded walk to make it 6-3. He would get out of the jam though, sending UC to the bottom off the inning down three.
 
In the bottom of the third, the long ball came into play again as Andrew Ramos would send one over the left field fence for his third home run of the season, this one a two-run shot, to cut the lead to 6-5. A two-run single for Shawnee off the bat of Blake Marshall would push their lead back out to three at 8-5 after the top of the fourth, but there is where UC's offensive surge would come alive.
 
With the bases loaded and one down, Daniel Diaz would double down the right field line to score two, cutting the lead back to one at 8-7 with two still on in scoring position. On a hard hit ball to the third baseman, Ramos would bring home another run as he would reach on an E5, tying the game at eight. Enter Bryan Benz as he continued to swing a hot stick, blasting a three-run home run to left, his tenth of the year and seventh in six straight games, to give the Patriots an 11-8 lead. With two down and a runner on, Cumberlands still was not done as Prado would hit his second double of the game, driving in another run to make it 12-8 Pats. Martinez added another RBI single later in the eight-run eighth inning to propel the Patriots to a 13-8 lead.
 
SSU would add a final run to their score in the top of the fifth to make it 13-9, but UC was not done. J.C. Santos would double over the head of the right fielder in the fifth to bring home another run, sending the lead back to five at 14-9.
 
In the seventh, a Benz' single would bring home another run to make it 15-9, putting two runners on with one down. There, Santos would put the icing on the game with a three-run home run to left; his fourth of the year, to give UC the 18-9 win.
 
Easterwood would finish out the game in relief to earn the win going 6.1 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks while sitting 11 Bears down on strikes. It is the second relief win of the season for Colton in which he tallied 10 plus strikeouts, improving his record this season to 3-0. Castellano would get a no-decision after just 2.2 innings pitched giving up six runs on four hits and four walks while fanning three on strikes.
 
UC now carries their winning streak into non-conference action on Wednesday, March 21^st as they host Tennessee Wesleyan University for a nine-inning contest. First pitch is set for 4 pm.
 
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