Pikeville, Ky. – Shawnee State baseball dropped their fourth game in a row on Thursday afternoon, falling in their series opener to Pikeville 13-3 in seven innings.
Pikeville would jump out in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Jay Vincent would walk and Jorge Perez would get hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. Luke Lubiniecki would then single to center field, scoring Vincent and moving Perez to second to give UPike a 1-0 lead. Luke Hartlage would then single toward third, scoring Vincent to put Pikeville up 2-0.
Shawnee State would cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the third. With one out, Seth Clement (FR/Kissimmee, Florida) would strike out, but reached base as Hartlage allowed a passed ball. Sam Gerhold (SR/Shelton, Washington) would walk to move Clement to second, and Clement would reach third on a fielder's choice off the bat of Dalton Phillips (JR/Hastings, Michigan). With two outs, Levi Jones (JR/Millersburg, Ohio) would single to left field to score Clement and cut the Pikeville lead to 2-1.
SSU would take the lead in the top of the fourth. Chase Thurber (JR/Andover, Ohio) would lead off the inning with a single, and advance to second on a walk from Blake Marshall (JR/Lexington, Kentucky). Casey Claflin (SR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) would then load the bases with a single to left. Christian Helton (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would ground into a fielder's choice to drive in Thurber to tie the game. With one out, Clement would also ground into a fielder's choice, scoring Marshall to give Shawnee State a 3-2 lead.
However, the wheels would fall off as Pikeville would respond with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jorge Perez would single to lead off the inning, and reach second on a Lubiniecki walk. Hartlage would bunt the runners over with one out. Travis Haen would drive in both runners with a single to right field, giving Pikeville a 4-3 lead. Haen would advance to second on a groundout, and would get to third on a passed ball. Alec Barba would drive in Haen with a single to center to put UPike up 5-3. Nelson Muniz would walk to put two men on again, and the bases would be loaded on an infield single by Matt Peterson. Vincent would get in on the action with a two-run single to right field, driving in Haen and Muniz. Perez would get his second hit of the inning, this one a two-run double to left center to drive in Peterson and Vincent. Lubiniecki would then single to drive in Perez and drive SSU starter Kyle Wisniewski (FR/Strongsville, Ohio) from the game. Pikeville would seal the game with two runs in the fifth, and Vincent's single in the bottom of the seventh to drive in Muniz would give Pikeville a 13-3 win by run rule in the seventh inning.
Bruce Bell picked up the win for Pikeville, allowing three runs on four hits in five and one-third innings pitched, striking out eight. Kyle Wisniewski took the loss, allowing 10 runs on 10 hits in three and two-thirds innings pitched.
The loss drops Shawnee State to 11-12 on the season, and 0-4 in the Mid-South Conference. Pikeville improves to 16-11, and 2-2 in the league.
Shawnee State and Pikeville will look to conclude their three game series with a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. First pitch of game one is set for 12:00pm.
