CU splits doubleheader with Tennessee Southern
Apr. 22—Cumberland split a Mid-South Conference doubleheader with Tennessee Southern on Thursday as the Firehawks won game one 15-11, but the Phoenix regrouped for a 10-5 win in game two at Woody Hunt Stadium/Ernest L. Stockton Field.
The Phoenix (29-11-1, 19-5 MSC) needed some help yesterday in order to clinch a regular season conference championship.
They needed to pull out a win while the University of the Cumberlands needed to lose one game against Pikeville to claim the title.
Game one was all Firehawks in the first three innings as Tennessee Southern chased started Ethan Torres in the third after he gave up nine hits and seven runs. Blake Birdsong and Janzen Powell each hit homers during the stretch for UTS.
Trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the third Cole Turney blasted an opposite field home run to cut into the deficit to make it 7-3. Cumberland pushed across another run in the fourth as Xavier Torres scored after he led off the inning with a triple to make it 7-4.
Birdsong belted his second home run of the game in the fifth to push it back to four run lead, but in the bottom half the Phoenix answered with six runs to take the lead.
Tyner Hughes hit a two-run shot to left field. Torres doubled home a run, Chewy Sanders scored on a wild pitch before Juan Moreno hit an RBI-single to plate Torres. Ian Krump came in to score on another wild pitch to push the lead to 10-8 in favor of Cumberland.
Tim Holyk added an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth to give Cumberland a three-run lead with three outs to get, but it was all Firehawks in the seventh. Birdsong led off with his third home run of the game. Landon Rogers doubled home two to tie it.
A fielder's choice RBI scored another run and Coleman Siniard hit a clutch two-RBI single to push it to 15-11.
Cumberland threatened in the bottom half, but Birdsong came in with two runners on to pick up the save for Tennessee Southern.
In the second game, Rogers launched a ball for a solo shot to put the Firehawks up 1-0 in the first.
Cumberland scored one run in the second as Santrel Farmer drew a bases loaded free pass to tie the game.
Powell hit a solo shot in the third for Tennessee Southern and Hughes scored Turney on a sac fly to left for a 2-2 game after three.
Cumberland launched three homers in the fourth to take control of the game. Torres hit his fourth of the season to lead off the inning. Turney played a run on an RBI fielder's choice which set up a three-run homer for Hughes, his second of the day and 16th of the season. Sanders went back-to-back with Hughes as he took a pitch over the right field wall for a 8-2 lead.
Cumberland added to the lead in the fifth as Krump hit a sacrifice fly to score Santrel Farmer.
Tennessee Southern scored two in the seventh and one in the eighth to chip away at the lead.
Turney hit his second big fly of the day to right center field and his 25th of the season to close out the win 10-5.
Mitch Rogers was fantastic on the mound going seven innings for the win to improve his record to 5-3.
He gave up just six hits and four runs with nine strikeouts in the game. Will Caro and Matthew Jenkinson each threw one scoreless inning in the eighth and ninth to lock it down.
Cumberland and Tennessee Southern were to play the rubber match yesterday with Senior Day festivities taking place afterward.
Phoenix check in at No. 23 in fourth NAIA baseball pollCumberland dropped one spot to No. 23 in the latest NAIA baseball coaches' top 25 poll, as announced Wednesday by the national office.
The Phoenix carried a 28-10-1 record into the weekend and controlled their own destiny to win Mid-South Conference regular season championship as they were to have begun a season-ending three-game series with Tennessee Southern on Thursday (a day earlier than originally scheduled) at Woody Hunt Stadium/Ernest L. Stockton Field. Since the last poll, Cumberland has gone 6-2 winning series over Georgetown, Campbellsville and Lindsey Wilson. The Phoenix bats have been a big driving force to their success this year. Cumberland is fifth in the NAIA in home runs at 89, 16th in RBI at 343, while hitting .322 as a team and are averaging 9.79 runs per game.
Slugger Cole Turney leads the NAIA in average at .533, home runs at 23, slugging percentage at 1.380 and on-base percentage at .679. After a slow start to the season, Tyner Hughes has been on fire lately. He has hit 14 home runs, 22nd most in the NAIA, while continuing to improve his average at .356. Dee Triplett has put together a great season as well hitting .373 with 13 home runs and has climbed into the team lead in RBI at 58. Senior outfielder Chewy Sanders is also swinging it well with seven homers and a .375 average. Infielder Tim Holyk has added 11 home runs and 44 RBI this season while hitting .269.
The Cumberland pitching staff has been led by Reid Madariaga, Ethan Torres, Trevor Muzzi and Mitch Rogers. Madariaga has a 6-2 record with a 6.20 earned-run average. Torres has the lowest ERA on the team at 2.30 with a 4-1 record. Muzzi is 5-0 on the season with a 3.52 ERA and Rogers is 4-3 with a team-high 51 strikeouts.
The top 5 remains unchanged as defending national champion Southeastern is the No. 1 team in the rankings with a 41-3 record. LSU Shreveport is No. 2 followed by Tennessee Wesleyan at No. 3. Georgia Gwinnett comes in at No. 4 and Bellevue rounds out the top 5 at No. 5.
Around the Mid-South Conference, the University of the Cumberlands is the highest-ranked team in the league at No. 7 with a 36-6 record. The Phoenix are second at No. 23. Freed-Hardeman is in the receiving votes category as the final conference team in the poll.
