Box Score BARBOURVILLE, Ky. – Tiger Baseball picked up the season sweep over Union College and won their ninth-straight game, on the shoulders of freshman pitcher Dexter Cline and junior utility man Alex Kline, defeating the Bulldogs on Wednesday, 5-3.
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BOX SCORE
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It did not take long for Campbellsville (25-14, 13-7) to get on the board, as the Tigers picked up three runs in the top of the first inning.
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Gentry Kinsella led off with a double to right-center field and scored on a RBI double by Kline. Jaime Valle picked up the second and third runs on an two-RBI single up the middle, scoring Jacob Russell (who walked) and Kline from second base.
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Cline made his fifth start on the mound for the Tigers and shined through his five innings of work. Cline (1-1) picked up his first collegiate win, while only giving up three Union hits, walking two batters and striking out four.
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The top of the order continued its streaky hitting with another run in the third inning. Russell picked up a two-out single and was followed with an RBI double to right-center field by Kline, his second of the game, giving Campbellsville all the runs it would need to preserve the victory.
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Cline got into trouble one time in his almost flawless five innings. After giving up a leadoff single and walking the next batter in the fifth inning, the freshman picked up three consecutive outs to end the Bulldog rally and keep Campbellsville on top 4-0.
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Campbellsville picked up an insurance run in the sixth inning with a little aid from Union College. Alex Scanlan walked with one out and advanced to third base on an errant throw on a pickoff attempt by UC pitcher Justin King. He then would score in the next at-bat, as King delivered a wild pitch that reached the backstop.
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Chris Tuma and Alex Watson both made relief appearances in the middle innings for the Tigers. Tuma surrendered a leadoff home run to Nelson Price to start the bottom half of the sixth inning but settled down and retired the Bulldogs in order afterwards.
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The Bulldogs got to the southpaw, Watson, in the seventh inning. Union picked up four consecutive singles and scored three runs to cut into the Campbellsville lead, 5-3, all before any outs were recorded.
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But TR Dunne came in to save the day. The righty from Bartonville, Ill. struck out three straight UC batters to end the rally and kept the Bulldogs hitless in the final two innings to pick up the three-inning save. The save for Dunne is his team-leading third of the season.
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Kline and Kinsella led Campbellsville in the early going. The duo both recorded two hits apiece. Kinsella scored a run and stole two bases, while Kline drove in two runs.
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Kline, a junior from Birmingham, Ala. is on a tear of late, going 9-for-12 (.750) in the past four games and has drove in four runs. In the previous 19 games the left-handed throwing, right handed hitting utility man for CU has hit safely in 16 of the 19 games, going 30-for-73 (.410) with 12 multiple-hit games during that stretch. He is second on the team in multiple-hit games this season, only one behind Carlos Torres' team-leading 18. Kline has also seen action on the mound three times in this stretch, pitching five innings and recording a win, loss and a save.
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Valle picked up the other two runs for CU, going 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Russell, Ricky McColloch and Shane Woodson all picked up hits in the CU victory.
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Campbellsville will now travel to conference rival and top-ranked MSC foe No. 7 Georgetown College (31-6, 17-3). The highly anticipated series between the Tigers will kickoff on Friday, April 18 at 3 p.m. ET at Robert N. Wilson Field in Georgetown, Ky.
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