Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State baseball fell in a close game on Friday afternoon, losing to (RV) Cumberland (Tenn.) 7-6.
Jared Schmidt would hit a solo home run in the top of the second to give Cumberland a 1-0 lead, but Shawnee State would rally for three runs in the bottom half of the second. Levi Jones (JR/Millersburg, Ohio) would lead off the inning with a single through second base, and Chase Thurber (JR/Andover, Ohio) would walk to put two on with nobody out. A passed ball by Cumberland catcher Nick Mira would move the runners up to second and third. Dalton Phillips (JR/Hastings, Michigan) would then hit a sacrifice fly, and reach safely on an error on the fly ball, with Jones scoring and Thurber reaching third; Phillips would reach second base on the play. Sam Gerhold (SR/Shelton, Washington) would then hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Thurber and moving Phillips to third. Casey Claflin (SR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) would then ground out to shortstop, scoring Phillips to put Shawnee State up 3-1.
Cumberland would bring a run around in the top of the third. Mira would lead off the inning with a double to right-center, and be replaced by courtesy runner Jordan Hunt. Hunt would then get to third base on a groundout by Carlos Moseley. Rayden Sierra would then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, driving in Hunt to cut the lead to 3-2.
Sierra would strike again in the top of the fifth with a two-run home run to give Cumberland back the lead at 4-3, and the Phoenix would then add two more in the top of the sixth. Schmidt would hit his second solo home run of the day with one out. With two outs, Andy Garretson would walk, and Peyton Wheatley would double to left to drive him in, giving Cumberland a 6-3 lead.
Shawnee State would rally in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. JT Boggs (SR/South Shore, Kentucky) would lead off by reaching on an error by Schmidt, and get to third on Jones' double to left. Thurber would be hit by a pitch to load the bases, but a fielder's choice off the bat of Phillips would see Boggs forced out at the plate. Gerhold would get the Bears on the board in the inning with a single, driving in Jones and keeping the bases loaded. With two outs, Blake Marshall (JR/Lexington, Kentucky) would single to left, scoring Thurber and Phillips to tie the game at 6-6.
Cumberland would push across the winning run in the top of the ninth. Wheatley would lead off the inning with a double, and get to third on Mira's groundout to first. Moseley would then hit an infield single to deep shortstop, scoring Wheatley to put Cumberland up 7-6. The Phoenix would strand Dillon Ritter (JR/O'Fallon, Illinois) at first base in the bottom of the ninth to get the win.
Blake Young got the win, throwing three and one-third innings of scoreless relief, striking out three. Kyle Wisniewski (FR/Strongsville, Ohio) took the loss, allowing one run on two hits in three and one-thirds innings.
The loss drops Shawnee State to 14-26 on the season, and to 1-14 in the Mid-South Conference. Cumberland improves to 30-17 and to 8-7 in the league.
Shawnee State baseball will host Senior Day on Saturday afternoon when they wrap up their series with Cumberland with a doubleheader. First pitch of game one is set for 12:00pm, with SSU's Senior Day ceremony to take place between games.
