Cats Splits DH with Cumberland

MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The Bethel Wildcats and the Cumberland University Phoenix continued their three-game weekend set Saturday with a doubleheader at the Kahlden Complex in McKenzie.

Cumberland beat the Wildcats 8-1 Friday night in the series opener.

In game one the Phoenix moved out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning on a grand slam by Brandon Boxer. Bryan Catala and Jared Hall drove in runs with RBI singles in the bottom of the second to make it 4-2. The Phoenix scored an unearned run in the top of the third to move out to a 5-2 margin. In the bottom of the inning, Juan Diego drove in Adriel Vega with an RBI double. Zach Griffith singled to drive in another run to cut the Wildcat deficit to 5-4. Luis Aristud tied the game with a sacrifice fly one out later. Catala gave the Wildcats the lead with a two run RBI single later in the inning. The Cats scored five runs in the inning on four hits to take a 7-5 lead. Cumberland's Rafael Garcia led off the fourth with a solo shot to rightfield to make it 7-6. In the fifth, Riley Light and Preston Welchel hit solos homers to give Cumberland an 8-7 lead. Bethel bounced right back to tie the game at 8-8 in the bottom of the inning when Aristud scored on a passed ball. The Cats won 11-8 with three more runs in the inning. Aristud singled in two runs and scored later on a Phoenix error. Alexis Rodriguez was the winner. Bethel outhit CU 11-7.

Game one offensive highlights:

2B: Juan Diego Ramos, Noah Foster, Luis Aristud

RBI: Jared Hall, Juan Diego Ramos, Zack Griffith, Luis Aristud (3), Bryan Catala (3)

Sac: Adriel Vega

Sac Fly: Luis Aristud

The Phoenix won game two 11-3. CU scored two runs in the fourth, two in the sixth and three runs in the seventh. A run in the eighth made it 8-0.  They added three more runs in the ninth.

Bethel scored their three runs in the ninth. Zayden McCaslin drove in two runs while Cade Pilkinton had a single RBI. 

CU outhit the Wildcats 13-6.

Bethel (RV) dropped to 26-9 overall and 7-6 in the MSC. Cumberland improved to 19-20 and 3-7.

CU has won five in a row in the series.

The Wildcats travel to Blue Mountain Christian Tuesday for a 3 p.m. single game.

Live stats:

https://bethelathletics.com/sports/bsb/2023-24/boxscores/20240416_yzmh.xml