Patriots play long ball in rout of Tigers to open MSC

Georgetown's pitching staff knew it had its hands full going into the MSC opener at Cumberlands. What came in game 1 surely stunned almost everyone as the Patriots launched 7 home runs in a 13-2 win over Georgetown that needed just 7 innings.

Chad Baker entered the game having not allowed a run over his previous 20 innings. That ended abruptly in the bottom of the 1st. With 1 out and a runner on, Baker faced Charlie Muniz, the all-time home run leader in NAIA history. Muniz stepped in a launched a pitch well over center to immediately give Cumberlands a 2-0 lead. 2 batters later, another home run made it 3 at the end of 1. Baker bounced back in the bottom of the 2nd, allowing a lowly single and nothing else.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Baker faced Muniz to leadoff. The result was the same as Muniz homered again to straight away center for a 4-0 Patriots lead. The lead grew to 5 later in the inning thanks to a right field double with a runner on who scored.

Georgetown got on the board in the top of the 4th. With 2 out and Aidan Jbara on 2nd after a leadoff walk, Cole Grable smacked a single to center that brought Jbara around to score. Jacob VonThaden drew a walk and moved to 2nd after a Luis Sosa single to load the bags. Keano Suarez was up next but could do nothing more than ground out to 3rd to end a potentially big inning. Chad Baker took care of business in the bottom of the inning with a pop-up and 2 straight strikeouts.

The Baker-Muniz faceoff happened again to leadoff the 5th. Muniz did it again. A long ball to left field sailed well over the fence for his 3rd home run of the day. 2 batters later, another solo homer gave UC a 7-1 lead. Baker gave up a double to the next batter and that was it for his day as he was pulled for Braden Shepherd. Cumberlands added 2 more runs against Shepherd for a 9-1 lead after 5.

Caleb Stahr came on in the bottom of the 6th and was greeted rudely as another leadoff homer for the Patriots pushed the lead to 10-1. 2 batters later, the Patriots played long ball again for an 11-run lead. They added 1 more off Stahr before the side was retired.

Georgetown's final run came in the top of the 7th as pinch-hitter Nolan Smith hit his first home run of the season to left for the final margin.

Chad Baker took the loss after allowing 8 runs on 12 hits, including 5 home runs in 4.1 innings. Braden Shepherd was charged with an earned run in the 5th. Caleb Stahr allowed 5 hits and 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th.

Georgetown and Cumberlands will play 2 on Friday, starting at 1:00pm.