Campbellsville pulls off Sunday sweep to take series over CU

Mar. 27—CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Campbellsville picked up two wins Sunday to win the Mid-South Conference series over Cumberland.

The Tigers won game one 11-7 and struck out 20 Phoenix in game two in an 8-2 victory.

Cumberland (17-13, 2-4 MSC) had a big day swinging the bats Saturday, but Sunday was much different as the Tiger arms were ready to go. Cumberland led just half an inning all day and that was to start the day in game one.

The Phoenix jumped on top in the first taking advantage of two walks. With the bases loaded, Javy Beal smacked a single through the right side to plate two for the early lead.

That lead lasted just three batters as Chad McCann hit a two-run home run to tie the game and the Tigers kept it going from there. With two outs, Campbellsville rattled off six straight hits, three for extra bases in that stretch, to go up 8-2.

Cumberland got a run back in the second. Stoney Smith, Ian Krump and Brandon Boxer all singled to load the bases. Preston Welchel hit a sac fly to center field to cut it to 8-3.

McCann added another run for the Tigers in the third with a single up the middle to extend the lead to 9-3.

Dee Triplett brought some momentum back to Cumberland's side when he belted a three-run homer in the fourth to right to cut into the lead.

Cumberland added another run in the fifth as Riley Light drew a walk to lead off the inning. Smith beat out an infield single and Krump singled in Light for a 9-7 score.

The Tigers played two more in the sixth and sent CU three up, three down in the seventh to get the game one win.

Cumberland had just five hits in game two and were fanned 20 times by Campbellsville pitchers.

Tigers starter Tristen Crusenberry was great going 5.2 innings to pick up the win. Crusenberry gave up two runs on two hits and struck out 13 batters. Aaron Hammer got the save for Campbellsville throwing the final 1.2 innings of just one hit baseball.

Chad McCann again got the scoring started for Campbellsville hitting a two-RBI single up the middle. The Tigers added another run in the third on Trent Buchanan single through the left side for a 3-0 lead.

Tim Holyk reached on an error to left to start the fourth. Welchel walked after him. Alonzo Zuniga hit a single through the left side to cut into the lead and later Welchel scored on a passed ball to make it 3-2.

Campbellsville pushed a run across in the fourth on a sac fly and added another in the fifth for a 5-2 lead.

The score stayed there until the bottom of the eighth when the Tigers capitalized on two Phoenix errors to add to the lead and get the 8-2 win.

Cumberland's game at Bryan College yesterday was rained out. The Phoenix will head to Lawrenceville, Ga., this weekend for a three-game non-conference set with Georgia Gwinnett.

Light highlights offensive output in game-one winCAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Cumberland brought its bats to the Mid-South Conference series opener blasting four home runs in a 19-5 win over Campbellsville last Saturday.

Riley Light had a game to remember going 5-for-6 with a grand slam, three doubles and drove in six runs.

Cumberland (17-11) bounced back in a big way taking advantage of four Campbellsville errors to tag along with 13 hits, seven extra-base hits.

The game was cruising along through the first three innings as both teams were kept quiet.

In the fourth, Preston Welchel reached on an error to start the inning and Dee Triplett was hit by a pitch. With two runners on, Light roped a double to right-center to plate the first two runs of the game. The Phoenix did not stop there, scoring eight runs in the inning. Alonzo Zuniga reached on an error to score Light. With two runners on, Stoney Smith drew a walk and Ian Krump belted a grand slam to center to bust the inning open. Brandon Boxer followed with a solo shot to center field for a 8-0 lead.

Next inning, Tim Holyk was hit by a pitch and Light hit a single to set up a three-run home run to center to push the lead to 11-0. The Tigers got two runs back in the bottom half on a solo home run and an RBI single. Campbellsville scored one more on a solo homer in the sixth to cut it to 11-3.

The Phoenix scored two more runs in the seventh. The first came across on a sacrifice fly from Zuniga and the second was a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Boxer for a 13-3 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers avoided the run rule with a two- run homer to make it 13-5.

Cumberland opened it up with six runs in the ninth. Dee Triplett and Holyk each walked with the bases loaded for two runs and then Light put the icing on the cake with a grand slam to left center for the 19-5 win.

Ethan Torres picked up the win on the mound to move to 4-0 on the season. Torres tossed the first five innings giving up five hits and two runs. He punched out nine batters. Thomas Wilhite threw the final four innings giving up three hits and three runs while striking out six batters.