Winchester, KY – Carlos Muniz hit a one-out walk-off homerun to leftfield to help the 11th-ranked Patriots split the doubleheader with UT Southern Sunday afternoon.  The Patriots won the rubber match of the series 8-7 to give them the series win in their conference opening weekend after falling 6-4 to start the day.  UC moves to 12-4 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.

Game Two:

Hunter Rigsby got the start and pitched 5.0 innings giving up six hits, three runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts. The three runs were all given up in the first inning. Walter Hernandez came in and pitched 3.0 innings allowing four hits, two runs, and one walk and strikeout. Chipper Korbacher came in the ninth for the save but after two Patriots errors that scored two runs, he would get his second win of the season.  

Seth Benner led the Pats at the plate going 2-4, notching his first career home run, while Sean Cheely went 4-5 with two doubles. Muniz continued his hot run at the plate going 2-3 with a pair of long balls, bringing his homerun total too seven for the season.

Cheely led off the bottom of the first with a ground rule double, then on the very next pitch he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Raphy Almanzar followed with an RBI ground out, as Cheely came home to score cutting the deficit to 3-1.

In the third inning, Cheely got a leadoff double down the right field line. Two batters later, Ray Villanueva hit an RBI sacrifice fly to center, bringing home Cheely cutting the lead to 3-2.  

Cumberlands continue to produce offensively the following inning as Benner belted a leadoff bomb hit over the right center fence to even the score at 3-3. 

After falling behind 4-3 in the top of the sixth, Muniz notched his first homer of the game, evening up the score at 4-4. Later in the inning after two walks and a double by Ernies Lozada. Cheely got an RBI single, before Almanzar followed with an RBI single of his own.  Then two pitches later Kevin Perez scored on a wild pitch for the 7-4 lead.

After a couple scoreless innings, the Firehawks tied the game at 7-7 in the top of the ninth. The Patriots responded in bottom of the inning with one out, Muniz stepped to the plate and hit a walk off homer over the left field fence, for the 8-7 final, clinching the 2-1 series win.

Game One:

The first game saw Braxton Cottongame getting the start, as he pitched 6.0 innings surrendering three runs on eight hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Caleb Plummer relieved and pitched 1.0 innings allowing three hits, three runs, a walk and a strikeout. Plummer suffered his first loss of the season. Benner went 2-3 with a double and two RBIs. Both Cheely and Perez came away with one stolen base each.

UC got the scoring started in the bottom of the second, as Muniz hit a one-out single to left field.  Two batters later, Benner drilled an RBI single through the 5-6 hole to bring Kevin Perez around to score giving UC a 1-0 lead. UT Southern responded in the top of the third, as they evened the score up at 1-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, UC re.gained the lead after a Benner double and a Shane Jones single up the middle. Lozada recorded an RBI sacrifice fly scoring a run putting Cumberlands in front 2-1.

Firehawks tied the game in the top of the sixth. In the next half inning with two outs, Benner hit the ball to the shortstop, but a throwing error allowed him to reach first and bring in a run for the 3-2 lead.

After a three-run top of the seventh by the Firehawks, UC would try to respond but fell short 6-4.

The Patriots are on the road headed to Athens, TN to take of fifth ranked Tennessee Wesleyan on Wednesday March 2^nd at 2 pm. Then they return home to take on Freed-Hardeman over the weekend.

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