KINGSPORT, Tenn. - No. 14 Union College was dealt a blow in its attempt to repeat as NAIA Region XII Tournament champions as fourth-seeded UVa-Wise posted a 10-7 victory Thursday.

UVa-Wise (31-21 overall) moves on to face the winner of the Tennessee Wesleyan College-King (Tenn.) College contest Friday at 12 p.m. Meanwhile, Union (41-15 overall) will take on the winner of the Brescia (Ky.) University-Indiana University Southeast game Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Although it scored seven runs, Union struggled offensively as it had just eight hits with five being of the infield variety and three of those were bunts. What helped Union at the plate was the fact the UVa-Wise pitchers had a hard time finding the strike zone as the Cavalier staff walked 11 batters.

In spite of the lack of hits, Union had plenty of chances to score as it stranded 15 runners on base while UVa-Wise left nine men on base.

Conversely, UVa-Wise rapped out 18 hits, six of which went for extra bases. Union's lone extra-hit base hit didn't come until the bottom of the ninth.

Down 1-0 in the second, Union took the lead on a Kenny Kysar (Corbin, Ky.) sac fly and a Lioney Henriquez (Brooklyn, Ky.) sac bunt for a 2-1 advantage.

However, UVa-Wise rallied for three runs in the top of the third. Josh Verts delivered a two-run home run to put UVa-Wise up 4-2.

Union scored a run in the bottom of the third, cutting the margin to 4-3. C.R. Berry (Roark, Ky.) came home when Trey Wheeler (Hopkinsville, Ky.) reached on an error. In the fourth, Union tied the score at 4-4 as Joe Grinstead (Bowling Green, Ky.) scored on another UVa-Wise fielding error.

Verts lined a run-scoring double in the fifth to put UVa-Wise up 5-4.

Union pieced together a three-run rally in the sixth but did so with just two infield hits. Aided by one error and four walks, Union batted around in taking a 7-5 lead. Wheeler, David Fairbanks (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Kysar had RBIs in the innings.

Yet, UVa-Wise had an answer, reeling off three runs in the top of the seventh. A Brad Robbins sac fly made it 7-6. Two batters later, Adam Skoranski singled in Matt Duffy to knot the score at 7-7. Mike Lang added a run-scoring single to take an 8-7 lead.

In the ninth, Skoranski belted a solo home run over the left-field wall to give UVa-Wise a 9-7 advantage. After an Edwin Narveaz single, Lang doubled to left for a 10-7 cushion.

Fairbanks led Union offensively in going 2-for-4 with a RBI and run scored. Henriquez was 2-for-5 with a RBI and a double. Grinstead went 1-for-5 but scored twice.

Chaz Bargo  (Artemus, Ky.) suffered the loss, dropping him to 1-4 on the season.

For UVa-Wise, Verts finished 4-fo4-5 with a home run, a double and three RBIs. Verts was also the winning pitcher as he went 2 2/3 innings in relief, allowing no runs on three hits and no walks with one strikeout.

David Jones recorded the save, his second of the season.

Lang finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Robbins drove in two and scored twice on 2-for-4 hitting.

Bulldog Notes

• Union is 0-6 when allowing 10 or more runs in a game.
• The multi-RBI game was just the sixth one for David Fairbanks this season, while the multi-hit game was his 11th of the year.
• The 15 men left on base is a season high for Union.