Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Marion, NC – Baseball continues their high-powered offense through games three and four of the weekend, outscoring their opponents 25-6. In all eight wins to open the season, the Patriots have scored five or more runs and won by at least two.
 
Cumberlands def. Northwestern Ohio, 14-1
Walter Hernandez pitched a complete game on Saturday night, noting his first win of the season. The junior right-hander matched his career-high strikeout count of eight in the seven-inning day. Hernandez gave up only one run on four hits.
 
Pedro Nazario went a perfect 3-3 to close out the night. Highlighting his plate appearances was his second homerun of the season to bat in two of the Patriots runs.
 
Nazario, batted in by Jose Rojas, scored the first run of the game in the top of the first to put the Patriots on the board first. Northwestern Ohio responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame; it would be their only run scored in the game.
 
Carter Grooms, pinch running, scored run number-two on a passed ball. In the following at bat, Bryan Leef slugged his fourth home run of the season over the left field fence. Patriots took a 4-1 lead into the third inning.
 
For the fifth time this season, the Patriots posted five or more runs in an inning; Cumberlands tallied eight in the top of the fourth to widen the score margin. Rojas started it off with a two-RBI single to shallow right, plating Nazario for the third time of the game as well as Over Torres.
 
Leef scored after stealing home to move the run count to 7-1. Rojas scored on a dropped fly ball, as did Ray Villanueva. Grooms cleaned up with the fifth run of the inning on a single to left-center by Kevin Rolon. Nazario closed out the scoring run with his homerun blast over the center field fence.
 
The Patriots pounded out two more runs for good measure, one in each of the following two innings. Villanueva chalked up an infield single to plate Leef, his third run scored. Later, Leef took another shot at the outfield wall, scoring Rolon on a sacrifice flyout to deep center.
 
Cumberlands def. Point Park, 11-5
Nathan Geissler notched his second win of the season with today's start on the mound. The right-hander delivered a pair of strikeouts in the first inning of action, going on to work four total. He gave up one run to the Pioneers on a pair of hits.
 
Jose Rojas, Ray Villanueva and Kevin Rolon continued to ring in the weekend, each with 2-3 performances at the plate. The trio combined for six RBI and three runs scored.
 
The Patriots saw their scoring run begin in the second inning, putting up three before an eight-run rally in the third to take the 11-1 advantage.
 
As they did Friday, hits for extra bases allowed the Patriots to move aggressively around the bases. In the second inning with the bases juiced, Villanueva punched a double deep down the right field line to score the trio of Patriots and reclaim the lead 3-1. Rojas and Brian Garcia were batted in while pinch runner Carter Grooms scored on the throw to the infield.
 
Bryan Leef led off the third with a stand-up double to deep right, his only hit of the game. Garcia brought his teammate around on a fielder's choice to the second baseman. Villanueva loaded the bases with a single through the left side. Candido Encarnacion sacrificed his body for the RBI, taking the hit by pitch as the Pats went up 5-1.
 
Rolon's single to shallow center plated a pair of Cumberlands baserunners and force a pitching change. Over Torres stepped in to power another double for the Patriots, once again exploiting the right field line to move the score 9-1. Cumberlands run count tallied 10 and 11 with Rojas' single to left-center to score Pedro Nazario and Torres.
 
For the first time this season, the Patriots saw a deficit that lasted longer than an inning. A slow start defensively allowed one run to score in the top of the first. The Pioneers also scored three in the fifth and one in the seventh.
 
The Patriots move to 8-0 on the season, 4-0 while at Big League Camp in North Carolina. Cumberlands returns to the field in the morning to close out the weekend with a seven-inning rematch against Midway.
 
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