PIKEVILLE, Ky. – It was a long day at the Johnnie LeMaster Field on the campus of University of Pikeville Saturday between the Bears and Tigers. Each team won a game in the doubleheader that took around seven hours to finish the 17 innings of baseball.
 
UPike won game one in extra innings 8-7 after the game was tied three different times by Campbellsville as the Tigers never led in the series opener. CU answered in game two with a 7-5 comeback win in the seven-inning game after trailing 3-0 and 5-4 at different points.
 
Runs were scored in bunches all day but in game one especially as each team had a four-run inning and a two-run inning. The first four-run inning came from Pikeville as they pushed four across on Anthony Arias in the second inning after a bit of wildness from Arias and a costly error.
 
The error was with two out on a ground ball in the hole at second base as Cale Thompson had to ball bounce off of his glove and Tyler Menrath of the Bears used his good speed to be the recovering Thompson's throw to the bag. That made the game 2-0 and was followed by a two-RBI single from Luke Lubinicki that made the game 4-0.
 
Arias did a nice job on the day bouncing back after that rough second inning and getting through the fifth inning tying his season-high with 12 strikeouts only allowing the four runs on three hits and three walks in 116 pitches.
 
That 4-0 score would hold until the top of the sixth when the Tigers scored four of their own all with two outs as well. The first RBI came off the bat of Marco Murillo, who chopped a ball over the third baseman for a single. Then Austin Peterson came off the bench to take his first pitch to the right field wall for a two-RBI pinch hit double then Adbiel Morales took his first pitch to left for an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4.
 
It was Lubinicki again in the bottom of the sixth to give the lead back to the Bears with an RBI single to left center with two outs. In the next at-bat, runners on first and third were able to advance on a wild pitch as UPike was able to take a two-run lead at 6-4.
 
That lead was short lived when Tony Fonzo came up a smashed a two-RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 6-6. Fonzo was taking his second plate appearance of the game after not getting the start at first and coming as a defensive replacement in the fifth inning.
 
Once again, the Bears went ahead and took the lead right back in the next half inning but this time it was aggressive baserunning from Pikeville that allowed them to score on a drop third strike. It was a strikeout to Rodny Rodriguez as he broke for first base, the throw from Brandon Douglas was on time but Shane Williams broke to the plate and Fonzo's return throw home was just late as Williams slid in safe to take the lead.
 
The one-run advantage held until the ninth inning when it was Murillo again putting the ball in the right place with the bases loaded. He hit a soft liner in the hole at short for a fielder's choice as Pikeville was unable to get an out anywhere as the tying run scored. Unfortunately for CU, they were unable to cash in with the bases still loaded and one out as a pop out in the infield and fly out were what followed.
 
Gage O'Brien held the Bears scoreless in the ninth but the Tigers also couldn't get a run across in the top of the 10^thbefore UPike put together a rally in the bottom of the extra inning. 
 
A leadoff single from Rodriguez started things off as Menrath hit a one-out double two batters later to make it second and third with one out. An intentional walk to Lubinicki loaded the bases so CU played the middle infield in double play depth and the corners in. Jay Vincent got down in the count 0-2 to O'Brien before fisting a ball in the hole at second that Thompson couldn't do anything with to not allow the run to score as the Bears walked off the win 8-7.


The second game got off to a rough start early for the Tigers as the first pitch of the bottom of the first was hit for a leadoff home run by Jacob Alvarado then two pitches later Menrath sent a ball over the left field wall to make it 2-0. Three batters after that Dillon O'Grady roped a ball to the right centerfield gap for an RBI triple.
 
CU went scoreless until the fourth and the fourth inning was a crazy, long drawn out inning that had six runs scored, a potential triple play with a drawn-out umpires meeting/argument, an injury during warm-ups and three total pitching changes in the full top and bottom halves of the inning.
 
The six runs came from four Campbellsville runs and two runs from Pikeville as CU took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth and UPike came back to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom.
 
The potential triple play came in the top half when Thompson lined a ball to left with the bases loaded and Lubinicki dove forward, appearing to catch the ball on the dive and it was called a catch by the umpire as the ball was thrown into the infield forcing out two runners who had left their bases seeing the ball hit the ground.
 
The Tigers protested the call of triple play on the field and the umpires gather, discussed and eventually ruled in Campbellsville's favor as a trap, no catch and all of the runners were able to advance a base due to the incorrect call on the field, making the score 3-2 at the time.
 
As the inning continued the Bears eventually made a pitching change after CU took a 4-3 lead. During the new pitcher's warm-up tosses, a pitch in the dirt bounced up and hit catcher Brendan Halstrom in the throat and it knocked him out of the rest of the game.
 
The bottom of the fourth inning wasn't nearly as long but it had its moments where it was drawn out to make it longer. The Tigers started with Brenden Nipp on the mound and Nipp was only able to get an out as he gave up earned runs on a hit and two walks.
 
Malcom Grady entered and he only got one out as he also allowed a hit and hit a batter to allow the inherited runners to score that were charged to Nipp. The inning finished with Murillo on the mound who got the final out in one pitch but he had to wait to throw in game action as his white wrist tap had to be covered by black tape as to not distract the hitters.
 
So now with the Tigers down 5-4, they trailed until the sixth inning when they scored three runs to take their 7-5 lead that they would eventually win by. First they tied the game on a sharp grounder in the hole at short that also put runners on first and third for Fonzo who roped a ball down the left field line for a two-RBI double with two outs in the inning.
 
That was the end of the craziness in Pikeville on Saturday as Murillo only allowed two more runners to reach, finishing the final 3.1 innings on the mound for the Tigers to pick up their first win of the series.
 
With the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. ET tomorrow, the two teams may push the start time up to 11 a.m. ET to avoid rain in the forecast and play the full nine-inning contest. Tyler Deason is slated to get the ball for Campbellsville in game three as CU looks to earn a series win to move to 6-3 in MSC play.