Berea, KY- The baseball team returned to their home field at the Berea College Sports Complex this evening as they hosted the Centre College Colonels. The teams played a single nine inning game.
Centre came out in their half of the first and put two runs on the board to take a 2-0 lead as the Mountaineers came to bat. The deficit did not last long though as Nathaniel Summey used a single to get on base and quickly moved to second off of Andrew Akin's sacrifice bunt. The first run for Berea came when Summey scored off Ryan Blevens' single to cut the Colonels' lead to one. After a Ron Overstreet walk moved Blevens to second base, William Hislope singled to left field which allowed Blevens to tie the game 2-2. After quick work by the Mountaineers' defense in the second inning, a double by Caleb Gupton followed by an error on the pitcher quickly put Gupton on third base before a ground out by Joshua Works scored Gupton to give Berea a 3-2 lead. Centre scored four runs over the next three innings to lead by three runs as the Mountaineers came to bat in the fifth inning. Berea gained a run back to cut the lead to two when Overstreet stole home to make the score 6-4 in favor of the visitors.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Mountaineers forced a quick three-up and three-down in the top of the seventh, looking to regain the lead in the bottom half of the same inning. Blevens began the inning by reaching base safely on an error before stealing second and third. A Cambridge Dacci walk preceded a Gupton double to left center field which ended up scoring Blevens and Dacci to tie the game 6-6. Berea took a one run lead off Nicholas Bottom's single which scored pinch runner Devin Belleville. The game became tied for the third time in the eighth inning as the Colonels scored a run, giving both teams seven runs each. Neither team could score a run in the ninth inning, sending the game into extra innings. In the top of the tenth inning, an intentional walk followed by a single loaded the bases before pitcher Joshua Durbin struck out the next two batters to end the scoring threat. The bottom of the tenth inning saw the first Mountaineers batter ground out before Summey hit a single to second base. Summey stole second base before a walk-off single from Blevens scored the winning run in the form of Summey, to give the Mountaineers the 8-7 victory.
Blevens led the way at the plate, going 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Summey, Gupton and Works also finished in double-figure hits, each finishing with two. The team totaled 13 hits for the game. Works started on the mound, pitching six inning while finishing the game with six strikeouts. The pitching staff combined for 12 strikeouts in the game and Durbin was credited with the win, his second of the season.
Berea (10-16) takes a couple of days off before returning to the Berea College Sports Complex to begin a three-game series with USCAA opponent the University of Cincinnati-Clermont. A doubleheader is scheduled between the two teams on Saturday, scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM with the second game to follow shortly after. The final game of the series takes place on Sunday.