BUTLER, PA- The third-seeded University of Cincinnati-Clermont Cougars defeated the sixth-seeded Southern Virginia University Knights 6-0 to advance to the second round of the USCAA Small College World Series. The Cougars were led by a strong pitching performance from Josh Williamson, who shut out Southern Virginia, allowing only five hits in the game.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when the Cougars finally broke through. Steve Hendri walked to start the inning, and advanced to second on a groundout and to third on a stolen base. John Kennedy then scored Hendri on a single. With the score 1-0, Knights' pitcher Ed Greenhalgh walked Mike Gastric, and hit Ryan Mummert and Kevin Thaman back-to-back to force in a second Cougars' run. Josh Reinhar followed with a two RBI single to bring the score to 4-0. The Cougars followed with two more runs in the fifth to complete their scoring.
Southern Virginia's Mitch Stevenson, a First-Team USCAA All-American, went 2-2 with a walk for the Knights in the defeat. Cincinnati-Clermont will move on to take on the winner of #2 Clark State Community College vs. #7 Lindenwood-Belleville. Meanwhile, Southern Virginia will move to the loser's bracket to take on #10 Penn College at 8:30 AM on Tuesday.
