Berea, KY- #12 Berea returned to the diamond today to conclude their three-game series against the number four ranked University of Cincinnati-Clermont. Clermont took the first two games of the series yesterday afternoon.
Trailing 2-0 as they came to bat, the Mountaineers were unable to turn a Nathaniel Summey walk and stolen base into a run. Over the next two innings though, Berea eventually knotted the game up at two runs apiece. The first run came when Devin Belleville, who hit a single to get on base, moved to third off Nicholas Bottom's double before scoring on Cambridge Dacci's ground out. The tying run came from Summey, reaching base with a single before moving to second off an Andrew Akins' sacrifice bunt and moving to third off a wild pitch. Ron Overstreet turned a single into a RBI when Summey crossed home plate to make the score 2-2. After a three-up and three-down fourth inning and top half of the fifth inning, the bottom of the fifth inning started with Summey's third hit of the game, a single to left field. A wild pitch allowed Summey to move to second and a second sacrifice bunt did the job to get Summey to third base. After a Ryan Blevens walk, Overstreet recorded his second and third RBIs when his double to left field scored Summey and Blevens, giving the Mountaineers their first lead of the game, 4-2. Belleville's single which scored Overstreet pushed Berea's lead out to 5-2.
The lead lasted a short time though as the Cougars scored three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game at five each. Two runs in the seventh inning gave visiting Clermont a 7-5 lead but a blast over the left field fence by Overstreet cut the deficit to just one run as the score changed to 7-6 at the end of the seventh inning. The visitors moved their lead out to two with a run in the eighth but the Mountaineers carried the momentum from the home run into the bottom half of the eight. Runs by Dacci, Summey, Blevens and Akins added four more runs to Berea's score as they moved ahead 10-8 as the teams headed to the final inning. A controversial call to begin the ninth inning aided the Cougars in scoring seven runs as the Mountaineers would be unable to mount a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, going on to fall 15-10.
Overstreet led the way at the plate for Berea, going 3-4 with one home run, four RBIs and two runs scored. Belleville finished the game with three RBIs for the Mountaineers while Blevens and Dacci added a RBI of their own. Joshua Works started the game on the mound for the home team.
#12 Berea (10-19) looks to get back on the winning side as they return to the road for their next doubleheader. The team will travel to Danville, KY to take on Centre College a week after hosting the Colonels at the Berea College Sports Complex. The two teams face each other again on Tuesday, with first pitch scheduled for 5:00 PM and the second game to follow shortly after. Live stats and video can be found here.