Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Williamsburg, KY – Patriots baseball now counts three wins to open the week, sweeping the doubleheader on home dirt against Milligan, 2-0 and 6-4. Four times the bat Pats went yard, Jose Rojas slugging homers on back-to-back days.
 
Rojas and Pedro Nazario both bat 2-5 in the series while Candido Encarnacion noted two hits in six at bats. In addition to Rojas' home run blast, Rolando Rodriguez noted the lone long ball in game one while Bryan Leef and Encarnacion rounded out the trio in the later game.
 
Game One: Cumberlands wins, 2-0
In a low-scoring affair, the Patriots began the day with their first shutout of 2021. Patriots moved to 2-0 on the week and 17-1 overall with the two-run victory.
 
Over Torres was the first man on base with a free pass on balls, not long before getting his first stolen base despite initially being caught in no-man's land. Rojas tallied his tenth double of the season off the wall in left-center for the game-winning RBI in the first inning.
 
Rodriguez was the man to call for an insurance run. Second batter to step up to the plate in the following inning, the catcher tallied his fourth homer of the season on the first pitch delivered.
 
The Patriots stranded three in the inning, continuing to threaten after the homerun blast with the bases juiced. A walk followed Rodriguez in the line-up before Nazario slugged a double deep to right field. The shot looked like it had the distance but bounced back into play off the top of the fence.
 
It was a staffed rotation in both games of the weekend. In game one, Nathan Geissler noted his fourth start of the season and tossed a pair of strikeouts in the short start. With the lead only by two runs, Chipper Korbacher fended off the Buffaloes for the final two innings to get his first save of the season.
 
Kevin Rolon had the third double of the day as the second man at the plate in the fourth. He was stranded on third on an inning ending strikeout. An inning later, Ray Villanueva started a two-out rally with a single through the left side. Encarnacion doubled to attempt to bring in his teammate; the throw from left field caught Villanueva stretching at the plate.
 
Cumberlands' bats have now registered 88 hits for extra bases this season, half of which have been doubles.
 
The arms of the game allowed five hits in the combined shutout, the team's first shutout win of the season. The three men on the rubber tallied seven strikeouts.
 
Game Two: Cumberlands wins, 6-4
A late rally by the visiting Buffaloes was not enough to overcome the large deficit set by the Patriots offense, posting their own boom of an inning in the fifth. Garrett Vathroder came into action in the seventh to tally the final three outs and collect his second save of the week.
 
As in game one, Cumberlands notched the first runs of the game in the first and second innings. Leef sent a two-out blast high over left field to get the run on the board. An inning later, lead-off batter Encarnacion sent a liner over the wall in the left-field corner to put the Patriots up 2-0.
 
Thomas Gutierrez noted the start in another planned rotation, getting the win after a two-inning, two-strikeout showing. He held the opposing bats to a single hit in the opening innings.
 
The Buffaloes were unable to respond against the Patriots fiery arms until the fourth, closing the possibility of back-to-back shutouts. A double followed by a single pushed one run across. Nazario singled to right field on a shallow blooper to let another Patriot cross the plate. Scoring the run on the bottom side to combat Milligan's then-lone run was Rodriguez.
 
The fifth-inning rally was led off with a Rojas' two-run homer on his first pitch seen in, plating Leef and himself and push the lead to 5-1. It was his second homerun of the season, following yesterday's solo shot.
 
Leef was hit by pitch to lead-off the fifth inning after a pitching change, Villanueva was hit as well to get on base. A passed ball and wild pitch moved him around 180 feet before Rodriguez sacrificed his at bat with a foul fly near the right field line. The throw came to the plate and villanueava escaped the tag for another run on the board.
 
Vathroder inherited two runners on with the score 6-3 when he came into the game in the seventh inning. An error scored the final run on the game as the infield attempted to turn a double play, getting only a force out at second. The reliever dropped the final two batters on strikes to retire the game without a hit against him.
 
The Patriots will begin the conference season on Thursday as they host Bethel at Doyle Buhl Stadium to continue their home stint. Originally slated the weekend, the games have been moved to a Thursday doubleheader and a nine-inning game on Friday to escape the incoming weather.
 
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