Baseball drops series opener to No. 11 Cumberlands

WEST POINT, Ga. (Feb. 18, 2022) – The Point University baseball team opened its three-game series with No. 11 University of the Cumberlands Friday evening and fell 9-3 in game one.

The Patriots opened Friday's contest with three runs in the top of the first. In the following inning, Cumberlands would add another run and in the fourth, they would score four runs to take an 8-0 lead. A solo home run from Cumberlands' Sean Cheely would make the score 9-0 in the fifth.

The Skyhawks avoided the shutout in the bottom of the fifth with a single down the left field line from Zebediah Baird scoring Francisco Garcia. The Skyhawks added on two runs in the seventh following a sacrifice fly from Jeff Rice to score Jackson Bush and an error in the inning allowed II Zadod Gabriel to cross home plate. The Patriots would limit Point's scoring opportunities in the final two innings, as Cumberlands' pitcher, Chipper Korbacher, got the Skyhawks out in order in the eighth and ninth.

Jakobe Smith, Garcia, Bush, Gabriel and Baird each accounted for one of the Skyhawks' five hits. Alex Williamson got the start and suffered the loss, going 3.1 innings. Gene Abourette came in for relief, going 5.2 innings, giving up two hits, one run (earned), walking one and striking out six.

The doubleheader of this weekend's series will be played tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 19, with first pitch of game one scheduled for 1 p.m.