CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Only giving up runs in three innings, the Campbellsville University baseball team dropped an 11-7 game one in their Mid-South Conference Opening Round series against Thomas More University Friday evening.
The Saints were able to score four runs in the first inning, five in the fifth, and two more in the ninth to jump in front, pull away, and maintain their lead against CU at HIG Field on Friday.
In that first inning, a two-run home run from Brady Reynolds made it 4-0 after a throwing error from Tiger starter
Korren Thompson turned a potential one run play into a two run play to make it 2-0 earlier in the inning.
Campbellsville took two innings to answer back after
Sam Fagerness drove in a pair of runs with a high chopper over the head of the third baseman to score
Lane Kashiwamura and
Tyler Cox.
Noah Amenta made it a one run game with a solo home run in the bottom of the third but that's as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the game before TMU added those five in the fifth.
A hectic fifth inning led to a pair of CU errors, four hits, and those five runs for the Saints as only one of those runs was earned. Thompson was knocked out of the game in the fifth as his line finished at eight runs allowed, four earned, on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts in four plus innings pitched.
Campbellsville tried to answer back in the bottom of the fifth as
Tommy Sepulveda and
Tyler Cox both hit home runs with Sepulveda sending a two-run shot to left center and Cox hitting a line drive to left that got out.
The bottom of the seventh inning had an interesting conclusion as the Tigers were looking to get back in the game down 9-6, a
Matt Lawson chopper to third scored Kashiwamura on a close play there he was called under the tag. That prompted TMU head coach Jeremy Martin to quickly exit the dugout to dispute the call, but the ball was not taken out of play, so Lawson took off for second where he was thrown out followed by the Saints throwing out Cox trying to score on the throw to second, thus ending the Campbellsville threat in the inning after scoring a run to make it 9-7.
The ending of the seventh inning seemed to take the wind out of the CU sails as they went down in order in the eighth and ninth innings to allow the Saints to pull out the 11-7 win.
With a 1-0 advantage in the series, Thomas More only needs to win one of the possible two games tomorrow to advance to the final tournament site in Bowling Green, Ky. for next week's six-team double elimination tournament.
First pitch for tomorrow's first game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET at HIG Field as the Tigers will need a game two victory to keep their season alive.
