Columbia, Ky – The Lindsey Wilson baseball team showed some grit in its series matchup with conference opponent University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) as they fell in a pair of games on Friday to go 1-2 on the weekend against the No. 15-ranked Patriots at Egnew Park. 

This matchup between the two marks the third straight time this season the Blue Raiders hosted an opponent listed in the NAIA's coaches poll. In the span of two days, Lindsey Wilson proved to be a resilient opponent for the Patriots but Cumberlands were able to bounce back from Thursday's loss to win the series 2-1.

Game One | Lindsey Wilson 3, Cumberlands 4 (7 innings)

In the first of Friday's double-header action, the hit total tallied up to 14 in a seven inning battle with UC getting the edge over LWC. Cumberlands were able to rally late and hold off the Blue Raiders for the revenge victory.  

Lindsey Wilson jumped ahead in game two with a score from Jordan Blick off an RBI sac fly to take an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Patriots responded with an RBI single up the middle to even the score at the top of the third. Blick made his first hit of the ball game count with a single to right-center that brought in Mathhew Schultz to regain the lead.

After a scoreless fourth, UC first baseman Max Harper connected on a pitch to score in a 3 RBI home run that opened up the game for the Patriots. Mason Malone was able to close out the inning and finished out the top of the sixth to set up a Blue Raider score from Jonathan Gallagher to condense the deficit to 4-3 by the end of the sixth inning.

Kyle Collin came in as the closer in the seventh to give LWC a chance for a walk off after keeping the Patriots from scoring but solid pitching from Cesar Avila helped secure the 4-3 equalizer for the Cumberlands.

Malone finished with three strikeouts on 25 at-bats and only two walks in six total innings pitched.   

Game Two | Lindsey Wilson 8, Cumberlands 10 (9 innings)

The Patriots got off to a good start at the plate with four hits in the first inning and three runs scored off RBIs. Lindsey Wilson responded with the same intensity on offense as they racked up three runs of their own to even the score with one coming from a solo homer by Blick. The other two runs were from an RBI sac fly by Chance Stayton to bring in Matthew Schultz, and an RBI single from Austin Rayno to score Henry Paulino.

Blick went 4-8 on the day with three scored runs and the first inning home run marked the fifth of the season for him.

Game two stayed pretty even through the third and fourth innings before Cumberlands broke open the score with a Caden Petrey Grand Slam to go up 8-4 in the fifth inning. UC scored one more time in the inning before getting their 10th run in the top of the sixth on a LWC error.

The Blue Raiders looked to complete a full comeback in the bottom of the eighth by cutting the deficit to just two after a few Patriot errors and walks, but senior pitcher Chipper Korbacher was able to get three strikeouts in the ninth to close the show and seal the 10-8 victory.

Lindsey Wilson is back at Egnew Park on Wednesday, March 1 to host No. 18-ranked Indiana University Southeast at 2 p.m. CT in Columbia, Ky.