Portsmouth, Ohio – Cumberlands baseball secured their third consecutive regular-season conference title with a pair of convincing wins on the road. In the opening day of the series at Shawnee State, the Patriots swept the doubleheader, outscoring the Bears 28-7.
 
Cumberlands has taken hold of the last three regular seasons in the Mid-South Conference, earning the top seed for the tournament bracket. After the play-in games, six teams will advance to the Bowling Green Ballpark for the MSC Baseball Tournament on May 5 to 9.
 
The Patriots opened the final conference series of the season with a 16-3 win in eight innings, winning by run rule. To cap off the night, the bats stayed hot with a 12-4 win after an early game comeback.
 
Kevin Rolon has stepped up in the last few weeks as a force to be reckoned with ninth in the order. Against Shawnee, the senior went 7-9 with a pair of homers and doubles. He has seen similar numbers for now for consecutive series, hitting similarly last week against Thomas More. On Friday afternoon he also scored five runs, stole two bases and batted in six.
 
Fellow infielder Candido Encarnacion tallied five hits in eight at bats, slugging a homer and a double. Jose Rojas remained consistent with a pair of multi-hit games, scoring four runs on four hits and batting in five for the Patriots.
 
Game One: Cumberlands wins, 16-3
In addition to the bats making an impact on the win, Colton Easterwood contained the Bears from the mound on his way to his fifth season win. He recorded 10 strikeouts over the seven-inning stretch, his fifth double-digit count this season. He is three shy of 100 on the seasons and in his career Easterwood has noted 271 strikeouts.
 
Five Patriots recorded multi-hit games for the visiting Patriots, including four consecutive batters in the middle of the lineup. Rolon, Bryan Leef and Brian Garcia each led the team with a trio of hits on the Shawnee pitchers.
 
Encarnacion tallied the team's first RBI on a single to center with two outs, allowing Ray Villanueva to score from second. Despite the early lead in the first inning, Shawnee State would go on to put three runs up themselves for the advantage through three innings.
 
In the fourth, Rojas led off with a single, followed by Garcia with another. Back-to-back hit-by-pitches loaded the bases and allowed Cumberlands within one. Villanueva singled in his lone hit of the game to plate two more and take back the lead.
 
An inning later, Garcia drove in three more Patriot runs with a long ball to center field. Kevin Rolon made it three consecutive innings with a leadoff hit with his single to center, stealing a pair of bases once on. He scored on the second homer in as many innings, a big blast by Leef to make it a six-run margin.
 
Leef tallied his 19th homerun of the season against Shawnee, now with 48 in his Patriots career. The senior ties former teammate Bryan Benz for the most homers in the record book for career homeruns.
 
Encarnacion began a rally and answered with a homer of his own to lead off the seventh. Garcia made it back-to-back with his second blast of the game, again to center. The homerun party continued in the following inning with Rojas notching a two-run homer on his first pitch seen in, Pedro Nazario going yard to left-center, and Rolon with another two-run homer. The blasts extended the Patriots lead to 16-3, five runs coming in the eighth via the long ball.
 
Easterwood consistently collected his 10 strikeouts throughout his appearance, dropping at least one in every inning on the hill. In the second, he saw a boost with four strikeouts after one passed the catcher allowing the Bear batter to reach safely.
 
Chipper Korbacher entered the game for the pitcher in relief and remained effective. He saw only three batters in the short stint on the mound, dropping two via strikes to close the game.
 
Game Two: Cumberlands wins, 12-4
A perfect 4-4 game for Rolon propelled the Patriots to victory and the doubleheader sweep, also chalking up four RBI and three runs scored. Encarnacion also was perfect at the plate with a trio of hits, batting in two and scoring twice.
 
Villanueva led off game two with a single to right, batted around by Rojas for the 1-0 lead in the first again for the Patriots. Starting the game and pitching six innings, Nathan Geissler proved effective against the Bears for his ninth season win. He struck out seven batters on the day, 60 this season, including a pair in the first inning.
 
The Patriots were held off the board in the second inning to allow the Bears to battle back a pair of runs for a short lead. The visiting team went on to score in each of the following five innings, putting up a trio of runs in the third, fourth and fifth to extend their runs scored to 12.
 
Two runners in scoring position as a result of Nazario's double, Rolon roped a double of his own to center field for two runs scored. Villanueva brought the shortstop home from second for another run on an RBI single.
 
Encarnacion hit an RBI double in the fourth before a blast by Nazario, his second homer of the day, gave the Patriots a 7-2 edge. The fifth inning brought the Patriots an eight-run lead, beginning with a leadoff single for Rolon. Over Torres reached base safely on a bunt, catching Shawnee State off-guard and loading the bases. Leef singled to score one, Rojas sacrificed his flyout to score the second, and the final crossed the plate off Encarnacion's batted ball.
 
An inning later, Rolon hit a solo shot to left-center as the second batter up. Shawnee State answered with a pair of runs to narrow the margin while three-straight walks loaded the bases in the seventh and Rolon tallied the final RBI single. To close the game, Josh Descher struck out two to hold the Bears from any potential threat.
 
Up Next
Game three of the series is tentatively set for 12 PM tomorrow, April 24. Incoming weather has the potential to affect the upcoming game.
 
The final game of the series wraps up the regular season, the conference title secured gives the Patriots a bye for the first two rounds of the MSC Tournament. The play-in games – which the Patriots will not compete in – are set for next weekend, April 29 to May 2, and the conference tournament will be played in Bowling Green, KY from May 5 to 9.
 
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