Mid-South Conference Baseball: Day Three Recap

Baseball | Sun, May 8, 2022 at 1:30 AM

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The 2022 Mid-South Conference Baseball Tournament has been trimmed to three teams following four games today at Bowling Green Ballpark.

Due to inclement weather over the first two days, day three provided the busiest day of the tournament, including three elimination games.

Second-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.) is the lone unbeaten and will play in Sunday’s championship game at 5 p.m. CT. Top-seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and fifth-seeded Campbellsville (Ky.) meet at 1 p.m. CT in an elimination game with the winner playing Cumberlands. An if-necessary game is scheduled for Monday if the team that emerges from the consolation bracket beats Cumberlands on Sunday.

Bethel vs. Cumberland

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Cumberland (Tenn.) erased the memory of Thursday’s heartbreaking walk-off loss with a 7-6 win over fourth-seeded Bethel (Tenn.) in today’s first elimination game.

The Phoenix scored multiple runs in three different innings and ultimately held off the Wildcats (18-24) to advance into the nightcap.

Tyner Hughes’ two-run home run in the third inning put Cumberland up 4-2, a lead it would not relinquish. The Phoenix extended their lead to as much as 6-2 thanks to a Jayden Hanna solo homer in the sixth.

Bethel battled back within two runs following the eighth inning and a home run by Rivers Moffatt in the bottom of the ninth pulled the Wildcats within a single run. But Phoenix reliever Rance Pittman retired the next three Wildcats to pick up his first save of the season.

Georgetown vs. Campbellsville

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Campbellsville scored seven times in the top of the ninth inning to beat Georgetown (Ky.) 11-5 in comeback fashion to stave off elimination.

A pair of hit batsmen opened the decisive inning for Campbellsville and four hits followed, including a three-run home run by Kale Seitz to advance to play a second game on Saturday. Seitz finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

Georgetown (31-20) took its first lead of the game in the fifth thanks to a three-run shot by Max Flock. Georgetown entered the final inning with a 5-4 lead before the Campbellsville comeback.

Zack Bromstead picked up the win in relief with two scoreless innings.

Freed-Hardeman vs. Cumberlands

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Cumberlands’ reliever Chipper Korbacher recorded the final three outs, including forcing a warning-track fly ball to secure a 9-7 win over Freed-Hardeman.

The dramatic ending was fitting in a back-and-forth among the top two records in the Mid-South Conference this season.

Cumberlands (42-13) took an early 1-0 lead on an unearned run before the Lions (35-14) grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The two runs started a string of four straight half-innings where the team’s offenses posted crooked numbers. Following the two-run bottom of the fourth, Cumberlands scored three in the top of the fifth, Freed-Hardeman scored four in the bottom of the inning, and the Patriots finished the streak with five runs in the top of the sixth for a 9-6 lead.

The game remained a three-run Cumberlands lead until Kent Rooklin — who was 4-for-4 with a pair of runs and two RBIs — hit a solo shot to cut the deficit to 9-7.

Cumberlands’ Sean Cheely and Sujel Arias each homered in the win. Cheely finished with a team-high 3 RBIs.

Jake Kmiecik picked up the win in relief to improve to 5-0 on the season. He did not surrender a run while allowing just four hits over his 3-1/3 innings.

Campbellsville vs. Cumberland

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Campbellsville (25-23) scored seven unanswered runs to beat Cumberland 7-5 in today’s nightcap.

In a game that ended just before midnight, the Tigers won their second elimination game of the day, and once again did it with late-game heroics.

Trailing 5-0 after four and a half innings, Campbellsville methodically climbed back, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth, once in the sixth and seventh innings, and finally seizing the lead in the eighth with a three-run burst.

Jorge Gonzalez and Jacob White each drove in two runs in the win while combining to chase home all three runs in the eighth.

While the offense was needed, perhaps the critical element in the comeback win was Chad McCann’s work on the mound. In relief, he silenced the potent Cumberland (12-42) offense over the final four innings. He allowed just two hits while striking out eight Phoenix batters en route to the win.