Cougars Fall Short in Kentucky, Drop Two to Pikeville Bears

(Pippa Passes, KY) -- The Cleary Cougars Baseball team finished their weekend trip in Kentucky today. They took on the University of Pikeville Bears once again. 

In Game 1: The Cougars would get off to a hot start scoring one run in each of the game's first four innings. Joey Parinello singled in the first to score Gavin Kempainen and Austin Vincent would hit a sacrifice fly in the second scoring Ryan Rose. Pikeville wouldn't back down from the Cougar 2-0 lead as they would score 4 runs of their own and take the lead at 4-2 after 2 innings of play. A home run from Brendan Seman would highlight the 3rd inning to make it a 4-3 game, however, Pikeville would gain on back in the bottom half of the inning making it 5-3. The 4th inning run would come from Joseph Miller who would blast a home run to center field, his first career home run. The Cougars would be able to hold off the Bears in the 5th inning and look to tie the ball game in the top of the 6th. With runners on, Conner Boone singled to left field scoring Keegan Hutchinson tying the game at 5-5. With no runs scoring in the 7th inning, the game would go to extra innings. The Cougars were able to get a baserunner on, however, the Bears were able to shut it down. Pikeville would go into the bottom half of the inning and hit a walk-off single leaving the game at 6-5 in favor of the Bears. 

Jacob Savina got the start for the Cougars and made his season debut on the mound with a final stat line of 4.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R (4ER), 2 BB, 3 SO. Hector Montilla (0-1) would come in relief and would suffer the loss. 

In Game 2: Pikeville took the momentum of the game 1 walk-off win into game 2 as they would score in all but the 1st inning in this one. They would take a 4-0 lead over the Cougars after three innings of play before the Cougars would find the scoreboard. In the 4th inning, Brodie Mackay doubled to center field but would find himself on third base after a wild pitch.  Ryan Rose would follow this up with a single to get the Cougars on the board. Pikeville's lead grew to 9-1 before the top of the 7th inning. Austin Santure would look to start a late Cougar rally kicking off the 7th inning with a double. He would later score in the inning but it wouldn't be enough for the Cougars as they would go on to lose 9-2. 

Brendan Seman (0-1) suffered the loss on the mound in his Cougar pitching debut with a final stat line of 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 1 SO. Jack Westerhoff and Nate Raniszewski made their season debuts on the mound as well. 

The Cougars fall to 0-4 to start the year but will look to jump into the win column next weekend as they take on the University of Rio Grande. The four-game series will start with a doubleheader on Friday, February 14th in Rio Grande, OH. First pitch for Friday's first game is set for 1:00 PM.