PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville baseball was able to hold on to the lead and defeat the Pikeville Bears on Saturday, 10-5.
The Tigers would start the game looking to redeem themselves from their losses the day before. The Tigers got off home plate quickly however as they had only Jorge Gonzalez on base after a walk before going to the bottom of the first. The Tigers would not let the Bears breathe though as a lightning-fast bottom inning was thrown by pitcher Brady Tedesco, grounding out two Bears and striking out the third.
Cameron Castaneda would start the top of the second very strong with a double to right center field. Grant McQueary grounded out to first base which allowed Castaneda to advance to third. Jacob White would follow up with a single which sent Castaneda home, starting the scoring for the Tigers. Kevin Whitaker would single, but the Tigers would end the top of the second up 1-0. Again, the Tigers would make quick work of the Bears at the bottom of the second. The Bears could not convert any of their first two hits into bases and their last hitter struck out swinging.
The third inning would start with Gonzalez popping one up to shortstop. Eddy Arteaga would then reach first off of an error by right field, then advanced to second. Josiah Clark would pinch run for Arteaga right before Noah Amenta would single up the middle sending Clark home for an unearned run. Both Castaneda and McQueary would strike out ending the top of the third up 2-0. The Bears would finally get some pressure going in the bottom of the third, hitting two singles and putting runners on first and second. Tedesco would not falter under the pressure though as he struck out the next two Bears ending the third inning.
The fourth inning started with two popped balls over center field for two outs. Whitaker would single down the left field line. Samio Uze would execute a nicely placed bunt to left field to advance Whitaker to second while he took first. Gonzalez then hit a ball to left field and the Tigers would be out by fielder's choice. The Tigers continued to not let the Bears touch the bases with the Bears grounding out two of their hits and catching a popped-up third hit ending the fourth inning.
The top of the fifth was loaded. Arteaga started by singling up the middle. Clark would pinch run again for Arteaga before Castaneda singled on the left side advancing Clark to second. McQueary walked to first advancing the two runners to second and third, loading the bases for a bomb sent by Jacob White to the left field for a grand slam. Two Tigers would hit out to end the top of the fifth with the Tigers up 6-0. The Bears would not be happy with their small amount of time on home plate as Tedesco would strike out two Bears and ground out another.
The top of the sixth had a solo home run from Gonzalez to advance the Tiger's lead to 7-0. Amenta would walk soon after just before the inning would end as Castaneda popped a ball up to short stop. Tedesco would get his 10th punchout of the game ending the Bear's home plate time to end the sixth inning.
McQueary would send a single through the right side to start the seventh inning, eventually being followed by a walk by White. Both would steal second and third respectively off of a wild pitch thrown while Kale Seitz was at home. Seitz would send a fast line ball to first base for the first out. A wild pitch would be thrown to Whitaker to allow McQueary to steal home and White advanced to third. Whitaker would walk to first base then steal second while Logan Verble was on home plate. Whitaker would advance to third off a wild pitch and White would score bringing the total to 9-0 just before Verble struck out swinging. Gonzalez would get a quick RBI single before the inning ended, making the score 10-0 at the bottom of the seventh. The Bears would get three base hits to start the bottom of the seventh leaving bases loaded with zero outs. The Tiger would get the second base runner on fielder's choice after a grounded out hit to short stop, allowing the Bears to score their first run of the game. The Bears would sacrifice a hitter as they bunted to the pitcher moving their runners to second and third. The Bears would then go back to the dugout for the eighth inning as they hit a fly ball to center field, closing the deficit to 10-1.
Amenta would walk to start the top of the eighth inning. He then took second off of a passed ball and then stole third off of a wild pitch. McQueary would walk just before two Tigers would hit fly balls before ending the top of the inning. Luis Lopez would sub in for Tedesco at the bottom of the eighth for the Tigers. Lopez would walk the first hitter, strike out the second, then hit the third to line up first and second base. The Bears would score off of a bad pass to first, then they would score another run after a wild pitch. The Tigers would get their last out off of a pitch heading to first base to end the inning 10-3.
The top of the ninth would have the Tigers getting two outs quickly before Gonzalez would walk. Arteaga would single before Clark pinch hit for him, all before Clark was reached on a fielder's choice to end the top of the ninth. Deshawn Welch would sub in for the Tigers for the final inning. The Bears would get one out and a walk for the bottom of the ninth. The Bears then hit a two-run home run to set the score to 10-5 and keep trying to come back. The Bears would pop up a ball to third base on a full count for their second out, just before sending a ball to the left side for a single. McQueary would then cover ground off of a big hit for a nice catch to end the game.
The Tigers had an outstanding performance on the mound today having a .662 striking percentage out of 48 batters faced. Tedesco would lead them in seven of the nine innings, taking his second win of the season. The Tigers would have a good 13 RBI's today including Jacob White's grand slam, compared to the Bear's lonely three RBIs.
The Tiger's next game will be versus Indiana University Southeast on Tuesday March 29th at 5 p.m. ET in New Albany, Indiana.
