McKenzie, TN – The Patriots scored in every inning to earn their fourth straight MSC series sweep with a 13-1 run-rule victory over the Bethel Wildcats on Tuesday. UC tallied 15 hits as they moved to 29-6 on the year and 12-0 in conference play.
 
Amber Gainer, Emma McDonald, and Maliyah Wilkins each recorded three hits with Carly Oliver, Bailey Turnbow, and Jade Gainer adding two hits each. Oliver drilled her 24^th career homerun to tie the program record for homeruns. A. Gainer and Wilkins recorded doubles for UC while both McDonald and Oliver finished with three RBI's. In the circle, Shope earned her second win of the series, pitching 3.1 innings and giving up three hits, six strikeouts, and no runs. Kaitlyn Schofield came in relief and gave the Pats the final 1.2 innings, allowing just two hits and a run.
 
The first inning started with a single from McDonald, who then scored off Oliver's two run shot over the left field fence to give UC the 2-0 lead. Shope followed with four strikeouts in the first inning. After getting the first two batters swinging, a dropped third strike allowed the third batter to reach. Shope did not let that phase her, as she struck out the fourth batter to end the inning.
 
UC added three more runs in the third off a batted ball from White and a two RBI single from McDonald. Shope then shut down the Wildcats in the bottom half to give UC a 5-0 lead after two.
 
After adding one more in the third, UC opened the game with a three-run fourth inning to go ahead by nine runs. A. Gainer led the rally off with a double and scored one batter later off another hit from McDonald. After Oliver reached on an error, Wilkins singled to score another run. Turnbow then continued the rally with an RBI single of her own to plate UC's ninth run of the game.
 
After giving up a pair of singles in the fourth, Cumberlands called on Schofield out of the pen with runners on first and second with one out. Schofield rose to the occasion, getting the first batter she faced to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning with UC still up by nine.
 
The Patriots added four insurance runs in the top of the fifth off hits from Gainer, Oliver, and Wilkins to take a 13-0 lead into the bottom half where they looked for their third straight run-rule win over BU. Schofield came back out for the final inning and did give up one run, but stranded two more Wildcat runners on base to take the 13-1 five-inning run-rule win.
 
The Patriots have now run-ruled seven of the 12 MSC games they have played this season, outscoring their opponents a total of 103-19 within conference play. UC will look to continue their dominance this weekend as they host Cumberland University at home. Game one is set for Friday at 4 PM ET with the final two games on Saturday. Cumberlands will also recognize their senior class on Saturday on Senior Day.  
 
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.