LEBANON, Tenn. – Aaron Wilkerson tossed seven shutout innings and Richie Seaton drove in both runs in No. 1 Cumberland’s 2-0 victory over 24th-ranked Brewton-Parker on Friday at Ernest L. Stockton Field in a first of a three-game series.
Wilkerson (2-0) allowed just one hit and four baserunners in seven strong innings in his second start of the season. The righthander gave up an infield single in the fifth and walked a pair of batters in the fourth. One other BPC player reached on an error in the first.
Keith Kirby ran into trouble in the eighth inning for CU but got out of the jam and then worked around an error in the ninth for his second save of the year.
Seaton plated the Bulldogs (7-1) first run of the game with a two-out single in the second inning and plated an insurance run for CU with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. For his efforts Seaton was named the Music City Star of the Game.
Brewton-Parker starter Daniel Jones (1-1) was also excellent on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out seven. The Barons (11-2) had just three baserunners reach second base and none make it to third base in the contest.
Kelvin Espinoza collected two of BPC’s three hits in the game.
The Bulldogs got on the board first after a leadoff single from Mike Mandarino and a walk to David Fanshawe in the second inning. Tommy Crews flew out to deep right, but Mandarino moved to third and then scored on a two-out single to left from Seaton.
The Barons had just one baserunner through the first three innings and he reached on an error by third baseman Crews. Wilkerson walked a pair in the fourth but got two ground balls to escape the trouble.
Espinoza broke up the no-hitter with an infield single deep in the six-hole with two outs in the fifth for BPC, but Wilkerson retired the next seven batters before departing after the seventh.
Cumberland manufactured another run in the seventh after a leadoff walk to Fanshawe. Crews sacrificed pinch-runner Daniel Harrison to second and he moved to third on a wild pitch. Seaton’s line drive down the leftfield line plated the runner for a 2-0 advantage.
The Barons threatened in the next inning with consecutive singles from Errick Fox and Espinoza. Derrick Fox’s sacrifice bunt was hard and back to the pitcher and Kirby wheeled and forced the runner at third.
Then pinch-runner DeMontez Jones was thrown out at third on a ball in the dirt that did not get more than two feet away from Fanshawe. Randall Shepherd grounded out to third to end the inning with the Bulldogs still ahead, 2-0.
Cumberland and Brewton-Parker will play a doubleheader Saturday at Noon. The Bulldogs will also host Indiana Tech on Sunday in a twinbill at 1 p.m.
