Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Columbia, KY – For the start of Mid-South Conference season, #22 UC had to face #23 Lindsey Wilson on the road. The Patriots came out and won the first game 3-2, but then fell in game two 6-3. The win for the Patriots marks the first time they have beaten the Blue Raiders in six contests.

Across the two games, UC had 10 hits, led by Emily Jasper and Katie Cheeseman who each had two. Emily Bryant notched her first home run of the season in game one and her two RBI led the team on the day.

In the circle, the Patriots were led by Kaiti White and Talli Burgess in the first contest, notching six strikeouts, no walks and just two runs. Morgan Radford and Kaci Goedde combined in game two, giving up five earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts.

GAME ONE: CUMBERLANDS DEFEATS LINDSSEY WILSON, 3-2
It became a pitchers' duel early on in the contest with neither team manifesting a run until the fourth inning. In those first three innings, White forced LWC into a pair of three up, three down innings and had one strikeout.

The Blue Raiders were threatening in the bottom of the second inning with the bases loaded and just one away. White forced the grounder to Tori Malone at first base, she fired the ball to Meryn Livingston at home who touched the plate and threw the ball to Cheeseman at first for the 3-2-4 double play, ending the inning.

After a 1,2,3 inning in the third, the Patriots got their offense going in the top of the fourth. With Paxton Hoop on first from a single to center, Bryant drove the ball to right center field for her first homerun of the season, giving UC the 2-0 lead.

Both offenses were quiet through the next two innings. Burgess came into the game in the sixth inning with a runner on second base. Burgess gave up a single, but struckout the final two batters of the inning to get UC out of the jam.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Blue Raiders had a two out rally with a single and then a homerun to make the score 2-3. Then Burgess issued a fly ball to left field to end the game, earning her first save of the year.

GAME TWO: BLUE RAIDERS DEFEAT THE PATRIOTS, 6-3
Cumberlands once again got on the board first, this time tallying a run in their initial at-bat. Jasper got a leadoff walk and was moved to third off a single from Cheeseman. Two batters later Livingston grounded out to second base allowing Jasper to score for the 1-0 lead.

The second inning pushed across another run to make the score 2-0. Hailey Wood earned a walk and then stole second to get into scoring position. Malone grounded out to the third baseman allowing Wood to advance a base. The Blue Raiders tried to gun Wood out at third and had a wild throw that Wood capitalized on crossing home plate.

The third inning was when the Blue Raiders answered back once again with two outs. LWC had a single and then a two-run homerun to left field tying the game up at 2-2. The next two batters hit a single and double to bring around another runner to make it a 3-2 score in favor of the Blue Raiders.

Once again taking advantage of a walk, UC rallied to bring the score back level. A walk to Livingston led off the inning and Taylor Green was brought in as a pinch runner. Green moved to second off a groundout. Then with their own two out rally, Wood sent a ball down the right field line to bring Green around to score for the 3-3 score.

However, in the fifth inning, LWC got another run off two singles and a wild pitch for the 3-2 advantage. the Blue Raiders then put up two more runs in the sixth inning off a two-run homerun. Meanwhile the Patriots could not get anything going offensively for the 6-3 loss to LWC.

Cumberlands moves to 11-6 on the year and 1-1 in MSC play. The two teams will finish the series in one week back in Columbia, KY for 3PM and 5PM start times.

Before the series finale with the Blue Raiders, Cumberlands has a weekend series with UT-Southern on March 4-5. The first set of doubleheaders will be at 3/5PM on Friday in Williamsburg, KY. Live video for the games are available here and live stats here.