Williamsburg, KY-  15^th ranked Patriots got 18 runs off six home runs to take the game against Union 18-3.  Max Harper led the way with two home runs including a grand slam.

Jorge Garcia got the start on the mound and pitched 2.1 innings. He only allowed four hits and one earned run with three strikeouts and three walks. Jared Shelton came in relief to pick up his first win of the season, as he pitched 2.0 innings allowing two hits, no runs or walks, and three strikeouts. Cesar Avila came in to close and pitched 1.0 innings with three strikeouts, no hits, and no walks.

Five Patriots hit home runs, starting with Harper who went 3-3 with two homers, seven RBIs, and one walk. While Charlie Muniz went 2-2 with a home run and three RBIs. Raphy Almanzar, Ben Snapp, and Frank Garcia all hit homeruns. Caden Petrey also went 2-3 with a double.

In the first inning, with one out Muniz got walked, then courtesy runner Kevin Perez went to second on a wild pitch. Sujel Arias reached first on an error, while Perez went to third. In his first at-bat of the game, Harper hit a three-run shot to left field to go up 3-0.

In the Patriots next at-bat, Evan St Claire led off with a walk. Then St. Claire would advance to second on a sacrifice bunt from Josiah Santiago. Two batters later, Almanzar found a pitch he liked and gave it a ride down the left-field line and out of the ballpark for his first home run of the season. That put the Pats up 5-0. Muniz followed with a single through the left side. Then Arias reached first on another error. Harper then got walked to load the bases. Josh Simon followed by singling to left field for two RBIs to take the 7-0 lead.

The Bulldogs were able to get a run across in the top of the third. The Pats responded with six runs in the bottom half of the inning. Petrey notched his first college hit with two outs with a single up the middle. Then both Almanzar and Muniz got hit by pitches to load the bases. Arias then reached on an error which gave the Pats an 8-1 lead. Next, Harper would step to the plate and clear the bases with a grand slam to right center for the 12-1 lead. Simon reached on an error, then Ryan Shavers got hit by a pitch. St. Claire singled to left center, allowing Simon to score from second and expand the Patriots lead to 13-1.

In the top of the fourth, Union scored their final two runs of the game. In the bottom half of the inning, Petrey led off with a walk. Next, Almanzar singled to right center to put runners on the corners. Muniz would then come to the plate and hit a ball over the left field fence to take a 16-3 lead.

After a couple of scoreless innings, the Patriots added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Snapp led off the inning with a home run. After taking a ball on the first pitch, he found his pitch and hit a bomb into the night sky and over the left field fence to take a 17-3 lead. Then the birthday boy, Garcia stepped to the plate and wasted no time with a first-pitch bomb. He hit the ball clear over the fence in left-center to make it an 18-3 game.

In the top of the seventh, the Patriots needed to get the shutout to win the game by run rule, which is what they did. After a batter got hit by a pitch, Avila struck out the next three batters to end the game. Cumberlands advances to 2-0 and will return to the diamond on Wednesday February 15^th at 4 pm to take on Kentucky State.

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