Williamsburg, KY- The sixth-ranked Cumberlands Patriots advance to the Opening Round championship game for the second straight year after taking down the RV Columbia Cougars 18-4. UC tallied nine home runs, a triple, and two doubles to move to 48-7 on the season.

Charlie Muniz led the way offensively, going 3-5 with all three hits being home runs for four RBIs. Sujel Arias went 4-6 with two homers and a double for six RBIs. Ben Snapp went 2-5 with a triple and a double. Raphy Almanzar, Max Harper, Josh Simon, and Ryan Shavers also added home runs.

Hunter Rigsby got the start and picked up his seventh win of the season as he pitched 6.2 innings, only allowing four runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Jared Shelton came in relief and finished the game going 2.1 innings, only allowing two hits with four strikeouts.

The Patriots got on the board in a big way at the top of the first. Almanzar led off with a walk and Muniz followed with his first homer of the game to take the 2-0 lead.

In the second inning, UC added two more runs to their lead. Snapp notched a double to left center to lead off the inning. Simon followed with a bomb to right center to take the 4-0 lead.

In the next Patriots at-bat, UC tallied three runs by way of three straight solo home runs. Muniz led off with his second homer of the game to left field. Arias followed with a no-doubter to right center for the 6-0 lead. After a change of pitchers, Harper notched a first-pitch bomb dead center to go up 7-0.

The Cougars got on the board, scoring one run in the bottom half of the third. Cumberlands answered with three runs in the top of the fourth. Shavers started the inning with a single to center field. With two outs, Muniz reached on an error, and Arias followed with his second home run of the game to take the 10-1 lead.

Later in the sixth, UC tallied two more runs for the 12-1 lead. Shavers led off with a single through the right side and would advance to second on a balk. Two batters later, Almanzar got walked, then one out later, Arias doubled to right center for two RBIs and the 12-1 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh Columbia scored three runs to cut the lead down to 12-4. The Patriots answered with a run scored on a wild pitch. Then in the top of the ninth, the Pats scored another five runs on the board. Snapp led off the at-bat with a triple down the left-field line. Simon got walked to put runners on the corners, and Shavers stepped in the box and hit his 18^th homer of the year to extend the lead to 16-4. Two batters later, Almanzar and Muniz hit back-to-back solo shots for the 18-4 lead.

Shelton notched the game's final two outs via strikeouts to send the Pats to tomorrow's championship game. The Patriots will take on the Reinhardt and Columbia game-winner for the chance to go to the NAIA World Series for the first time in the Programs history.

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