Williamsburg, KY – The Patriots remain perfect at home, sweeping Tennessee Wesleyan in a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon. UC had to come from behind in both games, but was able to defeat the Bulldogs, 7-6 and 9-3.

The two wins make it six straight victories for the Patriots, matching their longest win streak since 2015.

Talli Burgess came into relief for game one pitching 4.2 innings and had her best performance of the season. She struck out a career best eight batters giving up a single run off just two hits and a walk.

Emily Jasper led the offense hitting 5-9, picking up 4 RBIs including the game winning RBI in game one. Maddie Sickau also had a productive day at the plate going 3-3 in game one and followed it up with a 2-3 for game two with three RBIs across both games. Emily Bryant had a well-balanced day going 2-4 in both contests and getting 3 RBIs.

CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS TENNESSEE WESLEYAN, 7-6 (8 INNINGS)
UC had their third extra inning game of the season mounting a five-run comeback to send it into the eighth inning. Tennessee Wesleyan came out of the gates firing with three hits to begin the game. The final hit of the inning was a bases clearing double to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

The Patriots looked to tie the game up in the second inning, loading the bases, but they left all three runners on despite having four hits. The Bulldogs would capitalize on their own offense picking up three runs off three hits and an error in the third inning to go up 5-0.

Kaiti White exited the game in the third inning after striking out four hitters, but giving up five runs and eight hits. Burgess took over and struck out two to end the threat of two runners on base.

Cumberlands waited until the fourth inning to get the bats going, but made sure to pick up plenty of runs in the single inning of play. Hailey Wood and Jasper had back-to-back singles. Wood was able to score off Jasper's hit to shallow left field from first base. Jasper would score later in the inning from tricky base running that forced the Bulldogs' to make an errant throw bringing the score to 5-2. Bryant restarted the offense with a single to the outfield. Sickau took a ball on the 2-1 count to left field and over the fence bringing the score to 5-4. The home run is the third on the season for the Anderson County, TN native.

Burgess continued to keep UC in the contest striking out four batters during innings 5-7. With the Patriots needing just one run to tie the game in the seventh, Katie Cheeseman sent a ball to deep left-center for a leadoff double. Bryant moved Cheeseman to third base from a single bringing up Sickau who was 3-3 in the game. Not wanting to pitch to her Sickau was issued a four pitch walk. Two batters later, Madison Huber made the Bulldogs pay for loading the bases sending a ball to deep center, far enough for Cheeseman to tag and score. Despite a runner on third base the Patriots could not push across another run sending the game to extra innings tied at five.

The Bulldogs scored one run in the eighth inning forcing UC to push across their runner on second base from the international tie breaker rule. Paige Parker went to second base as the pinch runner, White moved Parker to third from a single. Wood scored Parker off a double and sent the pinch runner, Acacia Gray to third. Jasper sent the 1-2 count pitch to left shallow left field just inside fair territory. Gray took off for home and slid in just beating the tag to give UC the walk-off win, their first walk-off win of the season.
 
CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS TENNESSEE WESLEYAN, 9-3
Once again, the Bulldogs scored two in the top of the first inning to start off with a lead. A pair of singles and an error scored two runners.

This time the UC offense got going early on, cutting into the Bulldogs' lead. Bryant got a single to shallow left-center followed by a Sickau walk to put runners on second and first. Meryn Livingston hit a ball just over the shortstop that was hit deep enough to score Bryant making the score, 2-1.

After a 1, 2, 3 inning the Patriots were able to tie up the game in the second inning. Wood got on base from a fielder's choice and took just one pitch to swipe second for a stolen base. Jasper hit a ball through the infield that scored Wood from second, tying the game at two.

Abby Whelan settled into the game not conceding a hit from the second inning till the fifth. Getting her defense involved, Whelan issued nine groundouts for those three innings with one strikeout.

UC would get their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, capitalizing on the Bulldogs' quiet offense. Huber led the inning off with a stand up double to deep left field. Wood moved Huber over to third base from an error. Wood once again swiped second to put runners at second and third.  Jasper continued her clutch hitting, placing a ball in shallow left field that scored Huber and advanced Wood to third. Cheeseman followed it up with a sacrifie fly to deep center that easily scored Wood. Cumberlands now had a 4-2 lead.

Whelan issued a leadoff walk to start the 6^th inning which brought in Kaci Goedde to provide relief pitching. The walk would score off a double cutting UC's lead to just one run, however the Patriots' offense would use the next half inning to get the run back and then some.

A pinch hit for White ignited the offense with a hit to shallow left field. Wood and Jasper got on board from a walk and error respectively loading the bases. Bryant stepped to the plate and blasted a ball past the right fiddler down the line. Her hit cleared the bases and earned her the second triple of her career and coming in back-to-back games. Up 7-3 with Bryant on third base, Sickau hit a ball down the left field line to bring Bryant home. Livingston hit her second double of the season to score Sickau giving Cumberlands the 9-3 advantage.

A three up, three down inning finished the game to solidify the sweep for the Patriots. They improve their record on 8-4 on the season, their best start through 12 games since 2016 when they comprised the same record.

UC will continue their homestead and host Ohio Christian in a double header on Thursday, February, 23 starting a 3 PM. Both live stats and live video will provided. Live stats can be found here and the live video will be on the UC Sports Network here.