BARBOURVILLE, Ky.— Baseball earned a sweep against Union College on Sunday afternoon. The Bears (4-5) scored 13 times on 13 hits in the first game, beating the Bulldogs (4-3) 13-3 in six innings. Shawnee completed the sweep behind a strong pitching performance from Cody Strayer in game 2, defeating UC 3-1.
The Bears beat the Bulldogs in game 1 in six thanks to the 10-run mercy rule effect that came into play after a seven run sixth inning.
Calvin Sluberski, who was a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle, started Shawnee State with a single in the first inning. Senior Colin Keim followed with a double to center field, scoring Sluberski from first to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead.
After Union answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning the Bears went right back to work in the second. Back-to-back singles from Brady Hightchew and Charles Matsunami set up Todd Queener two-out RBI single to right field to score Hightchew, allowing Shawnee to regain a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs again answered with a run in the bottom half of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2. However, Shawnee kept the hot bats alive in the third inning scoring twice. Cody Spires reached on an error to start the inning and Keim followed with a singled. Junior Daniel Katayama followed with a one-out single to right, scoring pinch runner Aaron Suydam. After Joe Henderson reached on a fielder's choice, Matsunami singled to right field once more to score Henderson, extending their lead to 4-2.
Starting pitcher Zak Esposito (1-1) tossed all six innings for the Bears, allowing three runs – two earned— on five hits. Esposito settled down after the third inning to retired nine straight batters, not allowing another hit in the game to get the win.
The offensive juggernaut continued for Shawnee. Sluberski started the fourth inning tripling down the right field line. Spires followed with an RBI sac fly to score Sluberski from third to hand Shawnee a 5-3 lead.After a 1-2-3 inning from Esposito the Bears were able to extend their lead in the fifth inning. Pinch hitting for Matsunami, Jordan Maier tripled down the right field line to score Katayama from first base to give Shawnee a 6-3 lead.
The Bears then opened up the flood gates in the sixth inning, scoring seven times to push their lead to 13-3. Queener started the inning by reaching on an error and Sluberski followed with a double. Spires then hit a sharp grounder past the shortstop for an RBI single.Three straight walks then were handed out to Shawnee extending their lead to 10-3. The Bears would score three more times in the inning as a total of five walks were handed out by two Bulldogs pitchers.
Sluberski lead the way for Shawnee going 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Spires chipped in going 1-for-4 with two RBI's and one run score, while Matsunami went 2-for-3 with an RBI in his season debut.
In game 2 the Bears got a clutch pitching performance Strayer and timely hits to overcome a 1-0 deficit. After a wild throw the Bulldogs got their first and only run in the first inning as Juarbe hit into an RBI ground out to second base with a runner on third.
Strayer (1-1) tossed 6.0 innings allowing only one hit and one unearned run.
After 13 hits in the first game the Bears struggled through the first five innings of game 2, mustarding out only two hits. However, the Bears rallied in the sixth inning scoring three times on four straight hits to give them a 3-1 lead.
Keim, who finished the game going 2-for-3, started the inning with a single. Henderson followed Kiem with a double down the right field line scoring pinch runner Suydam from first to tie the game at 1-1.Katayama then hit a sharp grounder past the second baseman scoring pinch runner Zach Reed to give the Bears a lead of 2-1. Shawnee wasn't finished as Hightchew singled scoring Katayama from second to hand the Bears a 3-1 lead.
Jordan Williams (1) picked up his first save of the season after throwing the seventh inning not allowing any hits.
Baseball will have their home debut this Wednesday against West Virginia Tech. The doubleheader is slated to begin at approximately 1:00 p.m.
