CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Tiger Baseball continued to falter on the defensive side and could not keep the best hitting team in the Mid-South Conference down. Bluefield College (31-14, 12-12 MSC) defeated Campbellsville, 10-5, to give the Tigers their fourth straight loss.

BOX SCORE

Campbellsville (25-18, 13-11 MSC) has struggled on the defensive side all season. The Tigers came into the series against Bluefield College dead last in the conference with a team fielding percentage of .949, while Bluefield came in hitting .320 as a team, which is first in the Mid-South Conference.

CU surrendered five errors and Bluefield College made CU pay breaking out 13 hits in the game one loss.

Alex Kline gave Campbellsville an early 2-0 lead in the first inning with his second home run this season. Kline has now hit in 20 of the last 24 games to lead Campbellsville with a .443 batting average during the stretch.

While there was an early error in the game which, the Tigers' defensive struggles began to expand in the fourth inning.

After CU starting pitcher Alex Watson picked up a fly out to start off the inning, Bluefield's Jacob Wright sent a sinking line drive to left-center field. Kline gave chase but was just out of reach for the double, as the ball ricochet off his glove, and he bobbled it multiple times allowing Wright to scamper all the way to third base.

The floodgates came wide open after the error by Kline allowing Bluefield to pick up four runs, all earned despite the error. Watson surrendered a walk, RBI single scoring Wright, and a three-run home run by Khaline Villines to deep left field.

Bluefield College picked up six more runs in the sixth inning after another costly error. Ricky McColloch's throw went wide at first base to start the inning and Watson surrendered three consecutive hits, scoring four runs.

Villines singled with a runner on first but his line drive up the middle was misplayed by Shane Woodson and rolled all the way to the center field fence. Tyler Rome scored on the error and Vilines advanced to third. He later scored on an errant relay throw by McColloch to third, which sailed into the Bluefield dugout, giving the Rams an 8-2 lead.

The Rams scored two more runs to extend their lead, 10-2, after three consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly by Wright. Once again, four of the runs were earned despite the errors, due to the Rams' multiple hits in the inning. Only the first and last runs of the inning were unearned.

Watson (0-1) shut Bluefield down in the other seven innings. The sophomore from Henderson, Nevada recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in his second start. He finished with a complete game, giving up 13 hits, eight earned runs and walked two batters in his 121-pitch performance.

Campbellsville made a little noise in the seventh and eighth innings, picking up two runs and one run, respectively.

After a leadoff walk to Gentry Kinsella, Bluefield starting pitcher Zac Russell-Myers surrendered consecutive singles and consecutive sacrifice flies to Carlos Torres and Jacob Russell to cut the lead to 10-4.

The Tigers rallied in the eighth inning after Dylan Cole replaced Russell-Myers on the mound and was unable to record an out. Campbellsville picked up three consecutive singles and a run before Corey Niten replaced Cole. Niten worked out of a bases-loaded jam, picking up back-to-back fielder's choices and a ground out to end the rally.

Russell-Myers (5-4) picked up the win for Bluefield College and the Rams are now tied with Lindsey Wilson College for sixth place in the MSC standings (12-12) after a LWC loss to University of the Cumberlands on Friday.

Torres, Russell, Kline, Jaime Valle, Alex Scanlan, Ryan Squires, Kinsella, and McColloch all picked up one hit, with Kline driving in two runs. Torres and Russell both picked up one RBI in the loss.

Prior to the game, CU's coaching staff honored its five seniors: Steve Ferraro, Edward Garcia, Ethan Berchet-Hall, Allen Hewey and Jacob Phillips.

Campbellsville and Bluefield will face off again Saturday with a double header starting at 3:30 p.m. EDT.  You can listen live on 88.7 WLCU starting at 3:15 p.m. Head Coach Beauford Sanders will be recognized tomorrow before the game with a special recognition for his 1,000^th milestone win that was reached earlier this season.