MSC Baseball Opening Round Day One Recap

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The 2021 Mid-South Conference baseball opening round began on Friday.

In the best-of-three series, Bethel (Tenn.) advanced to the conference tournament final site winning both games against Cumberland 5-4 and 6-5. Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) defeated Pikeville (Ky.) 11-1 in game one, Thomas More (Ky.) defeated Campbellsville (Ky.) 11-7 in the first game and Georgetown (Ky.) defeated Martin Methodist 12-11 in 13 innings.  Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Shawnee State split the first two games on Friday.

Freed-Hardeman vs. Pikeville

The second-seeded Lions (23-21) got on the board first in the bottom of the first propelled by two home runs in the inning. Freed-Hardeman increased its lead to 5-0 in the second on a Josh Sears RBI-single. Pikeville (12-33) scored its lone run of the game in third inning on a passed ball.

Sears hit the third home run of the game for the Lions in the fourth to increase their lead to 6-1. Freed-Hardeman added two more runs in the fifth and ended the game scoring three runs in the seventh.

Freed-Hardeman had five players record multiple hits while four players recorded multiple RBIs. Alex Huey earned the win for the Lions pitching all seven innings allowing no earned runs while allowing four hits and striking out 13.

Game two will take place on Saturday at Noon CT with the if-necessary to follow at 3:30 p.m. CT.

Bethel vs. Cumberland

Cumberland (22-24) scored the first three runs in the top of the first inning in game one on a Tyler Jones sacrifice fly and a Jose Vera two-run home run. Bethel (20-17) responded in the bottom of the first with Nicholas Proto driving in the run.

The Wildcats tied the game in the fourth on back-to-back solo home runs by Proto and Noah Hawkins. Bethel took the lead in the fifth inning on a Jack Surber RBI-single. Cumberland tied the game in the seventh on a Pablo Custodio solo home-run. The Wildcats got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth.

Sebastian Cortes, Surber and Hawkins led Bethel with two hits apiece. Alex Valcarcel started the game for Bethel pitching seven innings allowing four runs on 10 hits while striking out six. Giovannie Nieves earned the win pitching two innings allowing one hit while striking out two.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of game two capped off with a Ruber Medina three-run home run. Cumberland got on the board in the fourth and took the lead with a four-run sixth inning with back-to-back two-run doubles.

Bethel retook the lead a 6-5 in the seventh on a two-run home run from Surber. Antonio Costas picked up the win for the Wildcats.

Georgetown vs. Martin Methodist

Martin Methodist (11-23) struck first in the second inning scoring four runs. After an RBI-single and a balk, Brendan Grainger hit a two-run triple to give the RedHawks a 4-0 lead. Georgetown (31-16) answered in the bottom half of the inning on a Joshua Duarte RBI-double to make it 4-1.

Georgetown cut the Martin Methodist lead to 4-3 in the third on a Shota Usuda solo home run and a Val Stammler RBI-triple. The RedHawks would then score three runs in the top of the fourth on a Lance Pope three-run home-run to lead 7-3.

Georgetown answered with a four-run inning of its own in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game at 7-7. The added another four runs in the fifth inning before Martin Methodist tied the game at 11-11 in the sixth on a Hayden Wright home run.

The game would then go scoreless for six and a half inning until Usuda drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 13th. Dashon Moore and Usuda each had four hits while Usuda drove in four runs. Keon Taylor earned the win for Georgetown pitching fiving innings giving up just one hit and striking out six.

Game two of the series will begin on Saturday at Noon CT with the if-necessary to follow at 3 p.m. CT.

Lindsey Wilson vs. Shawnee State

The Bears (21-22) struck first in game one with a solo home run by Javier Santiago in the top of the third. Shawnee State increased its lead to 5-0 with a pair of two-run home runs in the sixth inning by Jacob Kline and Damion Coleman.

Lindsey Wilson (21-21) stormed back to take the lead in the seventh inning taking the lead scoring six runs on four hits. The Blue Raiders increased their lead to 8-5 on a Kelvin Llanos two-run double in the eighth. Shawnee State would make things interesting in the ninth coming up just short after a pair of solo home runs made it 8-7.

Kyle Collin picked up the win for Lindsey Wilson pitching 3-1/3 innings giving two runs on three hits while striking out four.

Shawnee State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first in game two on a Howie Rodriguez three-run home run. Lindsey Wilson cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on a two-run from Austin Rayno.

The Bears increased their lead to 5-2 in the second scoring a pair of runs in the inning. Javier Santiago led off the fourth inning for Shawnee State with a solo home run to increase the lead to 6-2. Nico Martinez cut the Bears lead to 6-4 with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the fourth.

Lindsey Wilson tied the game at 6-6 in the fifth inning before Shawnee State took a 10-6 lead in the top of the sixth after a four-run inning. The Blue Raiders would respond again scoring four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

With the game tied 11-11 in the ninth, Shawnee State scored six runs capped off with a Howie Rodriguez grand slam.

The if-necessary game is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CT

Campbellsville vs. Thomas More

Thomas More (23-25) scored four runs in the top of the propelled by a two-run home run by Brady Reynolds. Campbellsville (16-18) added a pair of runs in the second and scored once in the third to trim the Saints lead to 4-3.

The Saints increased their lead to 9-3 after scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Campbellsville hit a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fifth to trim the Thomas More lead to 9-5. The Tigers added another run in the seventh while Thomas More added two in the ninth to lead 11-7.

Game two is scheduled for Noon CT with the if-necessary to follow at 3 p.m. CT.