Columbia, KY – The Patriots continued conference play on Friday in their series opener against Lindsey Wilson College. UC took down the Blue Raiders 9-3 to move to 17-6 on the year and 4-0 in the Mid-South Conference.
Six different Patriots recorded at least one hit on the day with Amber Atkins, Bailey Turnbow, and Carly Oliver each finishing with two. Atkins led the charge going 2-4 with 4 RBI's and a homerun. Turnbow delivered two doubles for a pair of RBI's and scored twice while also getting hit by a pitch. Oliver finished 2-3 with a run scored and a walk as well. Amber Gainer added two RBI's herself while also stealing one base. Lindsey Shope had a record day in the circle, striking out a career-high eight batters, while giving up just three runs off three hits. The grad student moves to 8-2 on the year.
UC came out of the gate swinging as A. Gainer reached in the leadoff spot after being hit by a pitch. She then stole second to move into scoring position as Oliver stepped to the plate with one out. The Blue Raiders decided to intentionally walk the Pats second baseman to make a double-play available. This did not work as Turnbow delivered a two-RBI double to the left center gap to give UC a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half, Shope walked the first batter before striking out the next two. She then gave up just her second HR of the season as LWC evened the score at 2-2.
The second inning started a lot like the first as Aniyah White reached after getting hit by a pitch. She then moved to third off a single from Marquila Howell, putting Pats on the corners. Howell then swiped second base, then scored alongside White off a single from A. Gainer. Gainer advanced to third off the Blue Raiders throw and scored a batter later as Emma McDonald delivered a single to the right fielder. This gave UC a 5-2 lead after two.
LWC's pitchers continued to struggle with their control, hitting both Turnbow and Jade Gainer to put runners on first and second with one out. Atkins then came to the plate and hit a three-run shot to left center to stretch UC's lead to six.
After a one, two, three bottom of the third from Shope, she gave up a solo shot in the fourth as the Blue Raiders made it an 8-3 game. UC responded right back in the top of the fifth with a leadoff double from, Turnbow. She then moved to third after a sacrifice bunt from J. Gainer and scored one batter later off a single out of Atkins.
Shope struck out two more batters in the fifth and sixth innings, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position to hold UC's 9-3 lead into the seventh. Shope then struck out the leadoff batter for the first out of the seventh. After walking the next LWC hitter, she got a groundball to second then a grounder to first that saw Turnbow take it herself to end the game.
The Patriots will be back tomorrow where they will look for their second-straight MSC series win of the year.
For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on X - @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, YouTube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.
