Campbellsville, Kentucky

On a warm Saturday afternoon, the Tigers kept on rolling.  After a slugfest win against Spalding in mid week action, the winning trend continued with a win over conference foe Pikeville.  Game one of the double header featured yet another dominant outing by Jeff Duda.  The senior mowed down Pikeville hitters all day allowing the Tigers escape with a 2-1 win.  Game two featured more offense as the Tigers came away with a 10-4 victory.

Game one lasted all of two hours as Jeff Duda locked horns with Pikeville's Compton in a classic pitcher's duel.  Pikeville manufactured a run in the top of the first, staking the Bears to a 1-0 lead.  As soon as Pikeville went up 1-0, Jeff Duda turned on the heat, not allowing a Pikeville player to reach third base the rest of the day.

The Tigers answered back in the bottom of the first.  Hector Urbaneja walked to lead off and was promptly moved over via a Matt Lepage sacrafice bunt.  Temple Macdonald followed by lacing a breaking ball down the right field line for the RBI double to tie up the game.

That is all the offense that would take place for either team until the bottom of the fifth inning.  With Jason Beale on third base, Temple Macdonald came up and lifted a fly ball into deep center field.  The ball was caught, but was plently deep enough to allow Beale to waltz home for the eventual winning run.

The main story was Jeff Duda (CG, 5H, 1R, 1BB, 11K) who dominated for fifth straight start.  His 11 strikeouts was a season high, dropping his season ERA to 1.84.  Jason Beale (2 for 3) and Hector Urbaneja (2 for 2) were the only Tiger hitters with multiple hits.

Game two had a much different taste.  Not only did the Tigers get solid pitching, they got all the offense they would need.  After falling behind 2-0, the Tigers roared back in the bottom of the third.  With runners on the corners, Chris Curley came up launched his fourth homer of the year to dead center.  After taking the lead, the Tigers never looked back as they rode the arm of reliever Curtis Payne.

The Tigers would add more in the sixth.  With two outs and runners on second and third, junior Nathan Quesenberry sliced a triple down the right field line while picking up two RBIs of his own.

Payne dominated for the Tigers out of the pen, picking up his second win of the week.  Payne went 4.1 innings, allowing 3 hits and one earned run.  He followed the trend of the rest of the pitching staff as he struck out 6 batters and walked none. 

Jason Beale continued to be an offensive force, collecting four more hits, giving him 8 hits in the last three games.  Chris Curley and Temple Macdonald also added multi hit games for the Tigers.  The Tigers will complete the four game set tomorrow at home.  Brian Edelen will take the mound in game one, and Brian Fuller will make his first start in two years in the night cap.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.