The baseball program at Shawnee State split its opening doubleheader with Pikeville Friday, dropping the opener by a 7-3 margin but salvaging the final contest by a 13-5 count to force a rubber match decision Saturday afternoon.
Despite the opening 7-3 defeat, Jacob Kline starred again, belting a two-run homer to left field in the final inning to cap off a 2-for-4 outing at the plate. Kline also added in a double to boot to head up the Bears' offense, adding in his ninth homer of the season and moving to 45 RBI in the process.
In Game 2, Damion Coleman, Howie Rodriguez, and Levi Jones took their turn slugging away at the plate.
Coleman, who led the output, had the best offensive performance of his career, going 3-for-5 with a home run and six RBI in the contest. Coleman drove in Jones in the first and Rodriguez in the third inning with RBI singles, then rocketed a grand slam to left field in the sixth inning, with the Bears ahead by an 8-5 margin heading into the sixth, to help put the second game away as part of a five-run frame.
Rodriguez, who went a perfect 4-for-4, singled with two out in the top half of the first inning to start a two-out rally that led to three runs and an early 3-1 lead for Shawnee State, then added in a RBI double in the third and a two-RBI double in the fourth to extend the SSU advantage to a 8-4 count after four complete.
Jones, who went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored, got the scoring started with his two RBI double in the first inning and his RBI single in the fourth to add to the offensive fireworks.
Between the duo, Shawnee State pitchers Kellen Ingram and Tanner Cunningham, through seven innings of work combined, gave up just four hits between them while combining for four strikeouts. Ingram, who pitched four-and-two-thirds innings as the starter in Game 2, gave up only two earned runs and limited the Pikeville damage done despite seven errors by the Shawnee State defense.
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