CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The offense for the Campbellsville baseball team came into Monday riding the high of scoring 81 runs in three games but only managed three on Monday in their 5-3 loss to Talladega College at HIG Field.
The Tigers managed eight hits against the Tornadoes as the TC pitching performed well against CU over the nine-inning contest. Talladega starter Julian Fitts went seven innings allowing only one earned run, three total, on six hits and striking out five.
The bullpen combination of Robin Ventura and David Padilla recorded the final six outs as the latter go his sixth save of the season after getting the final four outs, including the final out in the eighth when the Tigers had the bases loaded and two outs.
The game started on the extreme positive for Talladega as leadoff hitter Julian Lopez took the first pitch of the game from
Malcom Grady and sent if over the left field wall for a leadoff home run to start the game.
After that, the Tigers went on to score two in the bottom of the first on an error made by Tornadoes' first baseman Manuel Caballero that scored two runs off the bat of
Tyler Deason.
The only other run scored by CU in the game also came on an error in the third inning as
Donnel Bailey rolled a ball through the legs of third baseman Alexis Ventura to tie the score at three in the third.
Later in the fifth, the Tigers got into a jam with reliever
Brenden Nipp on the mound as the bases were loaded with only one out. Nipp induced a ground ball to second base but it was hit slowly enough that the relay throw to first was too late for the double play to keep a run off the board, so Talladega led 4-3.
That lead held until the seventh when they added another run on a wild pitch thrown by
Gage O'Brien that allowed a runner to score from third to make it 5-3, the run was charged to Nipp who allowed the runner to reach base earlier in the inning.
Notable Tiger offensive performances at the plate were from
Austin Peterson and
Bryson Wallet, who each collected two hits apiece. On the mound, O'Brien recorded outs against every batter he face with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings but did have that wild pitch to give TC the two-run lead.
Campbellsville will begin Mid-South Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against Shawnee State starting Friday with a single game and a doubleheader on Saturday.
