Gulf Shores, AL – The Patriots split their doubleheader on day two of the Gulf Coast Invitational, falling to the University of Houston-Victoria and defeating #16 Southeastern University. UC fell behind in the first game of the day and could not mount a comeback. They responded in the second game with a pair of big innings to take their third ranked victory of the weekend, moving to 13-6 on the season.

Game one saw just three hits from the Patriots offense and saw a trio of Pats enter the circle over the 5-0 loss. Game two was a different story as Cumberlands tallied 11 hits, leading to a 7-4 win over the Fire. Amber Gainer finished the day 3-7 with a double and an RBI along with a stolen base. Emma McDonald recorded two hits with a pair of RBI's while Carly Oliver finished the day a combined 3-7 with a double and two RBI's. Jessica Cord earned the win in game two, with Cassidy Gentry coming in relief in the seventh to get the save.

Pats Fall to UHV

UC fell behind early after giving up a leadoff homerun. A. Gainer led off the bottom of the first inning with a double but could not come around to score giving UHV the lead after one.

Neither team scored for the next four innings, with the Patriots only moving one runner into scoring position over the stretch from an Oliver double in the fourth inning. Lindsey Shope pitched four straight innings without giving up a run, before the top of the sixth where Houston-Victoria struck again, adding two more runs.

McDonald led off the bottom of the sixth with a hat, but the Pats could not capitalize, trailing 3-0 into the final inning. UHV added two more runs of insurance in the seventh and took the 5-0 victory.

Pats Extinguish No. 16 Fire

The Fire of Southeastern University jumped ahead early with one run in the bottom of the first inning. Cord settled in and threw a scoreless second, giving the Pats a chance to even things up in the top of the third. Aniyah White led off with an infield single before advancing to second off a hit from A. Gainer. Both runners advance off a McDonald grounder and scored one batter later on a two-RBI single from Oliver to give them their first lead of the day. Southeastern answered right back with two runs of their own to regain the lead in the bottom half.

The top of the fourth saw Maliyah Wilkins single to center field. Cloe Smith pinch ran for Wilkins and moved to second after Bailey Turnbow recorded her first hit of the game. Both runners moved up a bag on a wild pitch, giving Smith the ability to score off a sacrifice fly to left field from White to even things up at 3-3.

Cord earned six straight outs, striking out one, in the next two innings to keep the game tied heading into the sixth. Wilkins led off the inning with a single once again, and advanced to second on another Turnbow hit. White then loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch, bringing Ryann Livingston to the dish as a pinch hitter. The freshman delivered with a single to left center, scoring Kaysee Dale who came into run for Wilkins. A. Gainer stepped to the plate and hit a sac fly, scoring Turnbow, before McDonald put the ball in play and reached on an error by the first baseman, scoring Livingston and White to put the Pats up 7-3.

The Fire did not back down, scoring one in the sixth and holding the Pats in the top of the seventh to go into the last half inning down three. They got their two lead hitters in scoring position, forcing UC to go to the bullpen. Cassidy Gentry entered the game with no outs and runners on second and third. She got a groundball to second, not allowing the runner on third to score. She then struck out the next batter and got the final batter to pop-up to the shortstop to strand both runners on base and earn her first career save at the collegiate level. The Pats took the victory 7-4.

Cumberlands will conclude their time in Gulf Shores, AL tomorrow with a matchup against Middle Georgia State who are receiving votes in the latest NAIA Top-25 Ratings.

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.