Chris Adams tallied five hits and five runs batted in to lead the Lee University baseball team to a Gulf South Conference (GSC) doubleheader split with Shorter University Saturday afternoon at Olympic Field. The Flames came from behind to win the opener 10-9, but were unable to produce the same magic in a 3-1 defeat in the nightcap.
"We have a chance to win the series tomorrow, but it will be tough," said Lee head coach Mark Brew. "We need to have some early success. We have been playing catch up in too many games recently and we need to do a better job earlier in the game."
The series finale between Lee (17-8-1, 8-7-1 GSC) and Shorter (9-11, 6-8 GSC) has been moved up two hours and is now scheduled to begin at noon on Sunday.
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SHORTER 3, LEE 1 (GAME 2)The Hawks jumped on top of the Flames with a two-out three-run home run by Bryan Mathews in the top of the first inning.
Colton Cross made those runs hold up as he recorded the complete-game win. Cross (1-2) scattered six hits, walked none and struck out six. He gave up one run on Ben Holland's home run in the fourth inning.
Adams recorded two of Lee's six hits. Nathan Wierzgac, Luke Toms and Cameron Scott each stroked singles in the loss.
Trenton Hill was charged with the loss after giving up seven hits, three runs and walking one. Hill (5-3) fanned nine batters in seven innings pitched.
"They had a huge two-out rally in the first and that ended up being the difference in the game," said Brew. "Trent threw well enough to win, but we couldn't get anything going offensively."
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LEE 10, SHORTER 9 (GAME 1)Adams' two run single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Flames the comeback victory. Lee trailed 9-3 after 5 ½ innings and slowly chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the sixth, one run in the seventh inning and two runs in each of the eighth and ninth innings.
"I thought we did a phenomenal job sticking with it. We played about as poorly as we could play in a three-inning stretch (fourth through sixth innings) and still found a way to overcome a ton of mistakes and get a huge win. We had some huge at bats late and Grayson Bailey finally settled us down on the mound to give us a chance to bounce back into the game. Chris Adams had a huge day as did Andres Nelo," added Brew.
The Flames recorded 14 hits in the victory with Adams and Andres Nelo leading the way with three safeties each. Adams drilled a two-run home run. Nelo legged out a double and an RBI triple.
Siosi Poti and Wierzgac had two hits each, while Lee gained solo hits from Hill, Scott, Holland and Josh Tate.
Shorter received two hits each from Dylan Riner, Zach Santos and Dustin Lawson. Santos had a round-tripper and three RBI.
Dustin Lawson started and pitched 4 1/3 innings before being relieved. The senior right-hander was tagged for six runs (four earned) on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts in the no-decision.
Grayson Bailey pitched the final four innings and was credited with the win. He allowed just one hit, walked three and struck out four Hawks to improve his record to 2-1.
Travis McPherson gave up three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks, while fanning six in five innings of work. Christian Champion gave up three runs over the next two innings and Brandon Reynolds (2-2) took the loss after giving up four hits, four runs (two earned), walking one and striking out four in the final 1 2/3 innings.
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