Williamsburg, KY – Late game heroics is what it took, but UC Baseball got their long weekend of games started right with a 5-4 walk-off win in game one and a 4-2 victory in game two, taking down the Foresters of Huntington University. The pair of wins moves the Patriots to 11-3 overall on the season.
 
Game one offensively got started early for UC. After a scoreless inning of play, the Patriots would go to work in the second. An Andrew Ramos single would lead off the inning, but with one down, J.C. Santos would come to the plate and smash a shot deep to center field, his second home run of the season, to give UC a 2-0 lead. Alex Dominguez would follow that at-bat with a solo home run of his own, his first of the year, to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
Huntington would use the long ball themselves in the third with a solo HR by Hunter Losekamp, making it 3-1 UC. Patriot starting pitcher Zach Hurley was in a groove though, mowing down HU as he continued to look in mid-season form. In the sixth though, Hurley would find himself in some trouble. After retiring one, a single followed by two walks would load the bags for Huntington as Nicholas Purpera would come in as relief. A groundball to short looked as if UC would get out of the jam, but they would only get one, allowing a run to score to cut it to 3-2 UC.
 
The Foresters would then get two in the top of the seventh on a two-run single by Jamar Weaver, giving HU their first lead of the game in the final inning at 4-3. In the bottom of the inning though, UC would come up big. Bryan Benz would lead off the inning finding his way on via an error. After a groundout, Roberto Prado would walk, putting two on with Orley Arellano coming to the plate. Arellano would shoot the ball into right-center for a single, but an error on the center fielder would allow both Benz and Prado to come around to score, giving the Patriots the walk-off win 5-4.
 
Purpera would get credit for the win going 1.2 inning allowing two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two. Hurley received the no decision after 5.1 innings of work allowing two runs on five hits and three walks while fanning seven on strikes.
 
Game two saw the Foresters take the lead for the first time in the third. There, Losekamp would find his way on via a walk. After an error on UC's starting pitcher Josh Avila, runners would be on the corners with no one down. A delayed double steal would see the runner gunned out at second, but the runner on third would score, giving HU a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning though, UC would respond. With two on, Arellano would single through the left side, scoring a run to tie the game at 1-1. Later in the inning with runners on in scoring position, a groundout by Raudy Martinez would bring in another run, pushing the Patriots out front 2-1.
 
Avila would settle in pitching wise and mow down the opposition until the sixth. The Foresters would load the bases with one down as Adrian Perez would hit a sac fly to right, bringing in a run to tie the game at 2-2. After a walk to reload the bases loaded, UC would go to their bullpen and bring in Garrett Vathroder, who would strike out DJ Moore to end the inning tied at 2-2.
 
In the bottom of the sixth with one down, Santos would reach on a walk. A Daniel Diaz single would put two on, bringing Dominguez to the plate. He would then pound a pitch over the head of the right fielder, scoring both Santos and Diaz on the two-run triple to take a 4-2 advantage with an inning to play. Vathroder would then strike out three of four batters faced in the seventh for the win.
 
Avila would get the no-decision going 5.2 innings allowing two earned runs on just one hit and five walks while sitting eight down on strikes. Vathroder would get the win going the final 1.1 innings allowing no runs on a hit with four strikeouts.
 
UC now heads to Saturday with a split doubleheader. The Patriots will finish their three-game series with Huntington with a game at 1 pm. Huntington and Cincinnati-Clermont will then play at approximately 3:30 pm before the Patriots take on the Cougars at approximately 6 pm.
 
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