In their final weekend series in the regular season Shawnee State (31-22, 11-9) split with the visiting Patriots of University of Cumberlands (23-25, 7-13). The Bears saw two seniors pitch their last game on Branch Rickey Field in the Mid-South Conference showdown.
The Bears dropped the first game as they were only able to score one run on five hits as the Patriots starting pitcher Jason Rodriquez pitched a complete game for the University of Cumberlands.
The Patriots jumped on Shawnee State early as they scored a run in the top of the second off starting pitcher Austin Dunfee (Pomeroy, OH) in his last start at Branch Rickey Field.
The senior threw his ninth complete game for the Bears on the season. Dunfee (9-5) threw all nine innings allowing three earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts.
With the complete game, Dunfee broke the record for most complete games in a season that was set by Andrew Carter in 2011.
With Cumberlands leading 1-0 after the top of the first, the Bears quickly answered. Adam Wamsley (Wheelersburg, OH) led off the inning with a double. Two batters later, Ryan Burnett (Bellevue, WA), who went 2-for-2 with the only RBI in the game, hit a sacrifice fly ball to tie the game.
Shawnee State did have an opportunity in the fifth as they were able to load the bases with no outs. The Bears however were unable to score as the Patriots played brilliant defense not allowing Shawnee State to score.
The following inning, Cumberlands scored three runs on three hits as that would be enough for Rodriquez as the Bears fell 5-1.
Shawnee State scored eight runs in the first three innings in the second game behind starting pitcher Alex Taku (Santa Cruz, Ca).
The Bears scores three runs in the bottom of the second as Colin Keim (Clinton, OH) started the inning with a walk. Xander Uxley (Pickerington, OH) singled to left field after Matt Jones (Greenup, KY) walked scoring Williams who pitch ran for Keim.
Cody Spires (Lancaster, OH) added an RBI single and Quentin Everman (Galloway, OH) added an RBI bunt for Shawnee State's first three runs of the game to take a 3-1 lead into the third.
After Taku retired the side in the top of the third inning the Bears bats came alive again in the bottom half of the inning.
Jones doubled to center field for an RBI and Spires added another RBI in the inning and Cody Morrison (Spring, TX) had a two-run RBI double to extend Shawnee States' lead to 8-1 as the Bears were able to score five in the inning.
Leading 8-1, the bats were not done for Shawnee State. Burnett tripled to center field to start the inning and Spires followed with an RBI single. Two batters later, Morrison singled to left field scoring Spires to push their lead to 10-1.
Taku meanwhile threw up four innings in a row not allowing another run until the top of the sixth. Cumberland scored twice against Taku cutting the lead to 10-3.
Taku (8-3) threw all seven innings allowing three runs on 10 hits while striking out one batter. The Bears offense scored 10 runs on 11 hits as Spires lead the way going 3-for-4 with three RBI's. Burnett and Morrison also had multi-hit games for Shawnee State.
The Bears will return to action tomorrow at noon in their final regular season game against the Patriots of Cumberlands on senior day as the seniors will be honored.
