CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The CU baseball team earned their eighth win in nine games Tuesday evening with a 7-4 win over Union College at HIG Field entering the final week of their regular season.
Starting pitcher
Aaron Hutchinson recorded season-highs in innings pitched and strikeouts on his way to his fifth win of the season and fourth straight win in as many starts. Hutchinson went 5.2 innings allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
He did give up the first run of the game in the fourth inning after a leadoff and stolen base by the Bulldogs' second baseman, Joe Gaines, allowed the next two batters to hit into ground outs advancing Gaines to third and scoring him to take a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers answered right back in the bottom half with six runs on only three hits but it was offensive execution and UC defensive miscues that allowed Campbellsville to score.
Tony Fonzo started the inning with a leadoff walk that was followed by five-straight sacrifice bunt attempts with the first four batters reaching base and the fifth dropping a successful sac bunt for an RBI.
Brandon Douglas,
Tommy Sepulveda,
Chris Taitague,
Cale Thompson, and
Marco Murillo all squared to bunt with four of the five bunt attempts going in play.
Douglas dropped one down in front of home plate as the Bulldogs' catcher couldn't get a handle on it allowing Douglas to reach. It was another error on Sepulveda's bunt that allowed two runs to score as Cody Bailey, the starting pitcher, threw the ball into foul territory down the left field line trying to force Fonzo out at third.
Taitague walked on four pitches, squaring to bunt on all four pitches then Thompson dropped a near perfect bunt down the third base line for a single as he beat the throw to first. Then Murillo, after taking the first two pitches, dropped a push bunt to first base allowing Sepulveda to score from third.
Two-straight RBI singles from
Tyson Solis and
Tyler Deason drove in the fourth and fifth runs of the game for CU. Deason and Solis each finished the game with two hits as Solis had the lone RBI and Deason finished with two on the day.
The tying run came up to the plate for Union twice after the Tigers took the lead, the first was in the sixth inning as the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs. CU called to
Ian Nowak out of the pen, who threw two-pitches to get the final out, keeping the lead at 6-2 Campbellsville.
Malcom Grady struggled to close out a 7-2 lead in the ninth inning, even after a nifty double play was turned by
Lane Kashiwamura up the middle after Kashiwamura came on off the bench to play second base. Murillo moved from third base to the mound to get the final out of the game as he picked up his first save of the season, throwing two pitches to get a ground out to second base.
The Tigers will close out the regular season this weekend with a three-game Mid-South Conference series at HIG Field against Georgetown College. CU will also celebrate Senior Day on Saturday to honor the team's 10 graduating seniors.
