CLEVLAND, Ga - The CIU Baseball team traveled to Cleveland, Georgia, to battle in conference foe Truett McConnell University. While both TMU and CIU compete in the AAC, today's game will not count toward the overall conference record and will be treated as a non-conference match-up. The two teams matched up well against one another through 6 innings; the Bears were able to pull away after an offensive explosion in the 6th, handing the Rams a 7-2 loss. 

How it Happened: CIU struck first in the first inning, as Josh Hernandez homered on the second at-bat of the game, giving the Rams a 1-0 lead. TMU tied the game in the bottom of the first, with a homer on their second at-bat from Josh Johnston. The Bears earned their first lead of the game at the bottom of the 5th, scoring off a sacrifice fly from Tanner Griffith. The Rams responded immediately with yet another homer from Josh Hernandez over the left-field fence, making it 2-2 heading into the bottom of the 6th. TMU found their bats in the bottom of the 6th, scoring five runs off five hits, jumping out to a huge 7-2 lead over the Rams. As the ball game moved into its final stretch, the CIU bats went cold, as the Rams were unable to overcome the 6th inning offensive success of the bears. 

Game Notes:

• Catcher Josh Hernandez hit two solo home runs scoring CIU's only runs of the game. 

What Coach Johnson is saying: 
"Truett McConnell played a great game. We had a bad 6th inning that buried us, but outside of that, it was a great game. Coach Croley has his guys playing well with great discipline. It was good for our team to see what it looked like for a team to play good fundamental baseball. They won the game tonight because they out-executed us offensively."

Up Next: 
The Rams look to bounce back with their series against Toccoa Falls College this Friday and Saturday.