May 18, 2007

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - Cumberland (Tenn.) University got all it needed from battery mates Zach Whitmer and Luis Martinez as Cumberland shutout Union College 7-0 Friday to win the 2007 NAIA South Central Super Regional and advance to the NAIA World Series.

Whitmer took care of things on the mound as he tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing four hits and one walk with nine strikeouts - seven of them looking, to improve to 8-4 on the year. Meanwhile, Martinez went a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with a home run, a triple and five RBIs.

The shutout snapped Union's 125-game streak without being blanked. The last shutout loss for Union came on May 3, 2005, when Montreat (N.C.) College won 8-0 in the opening round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament.

The loss ended Union's season at 46-17 overall, marking the third year in a row with 40-plus wins. Cumberland is 48-18-1 as it will now head to Lewiston, Idaho, for the NAIA World Series, which is set to begin Friday, May 25.

Cumberland drew first blood in the second when Clint Alexander led off the frame with a double. However, Union start Mark Parsons (London, Ky.) looked as if he was going to get out the inning without any damage when the next two batters flew out to left. Yet, with two outs, Kyle West grounded the ball back to Parsons whose threw sailed over first baseman Luis Pimentel's (Bani, D.R.) head, allowing Alexander to score.

In the third, Courtney Propst walked and Eric Mull doubled to put runners on second and third with no one out for Martinez, who responded with a three-run shot over the left-field fence, putting Cumberland up 4-0.

Martinez added a two-run triple down the right-field line in the fourth, padding the margin at 6-0.

Cumberland tacked a run in the fifth when West singled in Jason Bush for a 7-0 cushion.

From that point on, Whitmer took care of business as he struck out the side looking in the eighth and ended the game with a strikeout as Cumberland took the win and the super regional championship. Union had just one runner reach second base, that coming in the fourth when Matt Mahony (Fort White, Fla.) led off with a single and moved over on a Kevin Ramos (Panama City, Panama).

Besides Martinez, only West had more than one hit for Cumberland as he went 3-for-5 with a RBI.