Riding strong pitching and consistent hitting, the Lee baseball team opened the 2016 season with a pair of shutout victories over Albany State University (Ga.) on Saturday afternoon at Olympic Field.
In the first game, the Flames posted a 12-0 victory. Justin Alleman, making his first start as Lee player, pitched five innings and allowed only three hits to pick up the win. He allowed only one walk and fanned seven hitters. Logan Campbell worked the final four innings and surrendered only one hit. He fanned six and issued two free passes.
Ben Holland led Lee's 13-hit parade. The senior slugger blasted a pair of home runs and collected three RBI. Luke Toms and MJ Brown followed with three hits apiece. Toms had a triple, a double and drove in two runs. Brown blasted a homer, a two-base hit and collected six big RBI. Geremy Walton had two hits, including a double and scored a pair of runs. Trent Hill also stroked a double. Tyler Waters got into the extra-base hit explosion with a double.Â
Trevor Billings had three of Albany State's four hits. DeMarukus Green was the starting and losing pitcher for the visitors.
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"I was very pleased with how we performed throughout the day," said coach Mark Brew. "Anytime you throw 16 innings of shutout baseball the pitching staff has done an excellent job. Our defense was excellent all day and I was really pleased with our veteran players and how they led the way offensively. It was also good to see some of our younger players play well with the opportunities they had today."
In the second game, Art Vidrio worked the first five innings and picked up the win for the Flames. He surrendered just one hit, did not walk a man and struck out three. Tyler Burcham hurled the final two innings. He also did not walk an Albany State player and fanned two.Â
The Flames made the best of five hits in the second game. Walton, Chris Adams, Hill, Brown and Tyler Payne banged out hits in the win. Adams tripled and scored twice. Hill, Brown and Payne collected RBIs.Â
John Paul Barnard was the Albany State starter and charged with the pitching loss. He worked 4 2/3 innings. Theodore Smith collected the only hit for the losers.Â
The Flames will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. facing the same Albany State club in a single contest. "The great thing about baseball is every day is a new day. We will have to come out and duplicate the positive things we did and improve on the negative things in order to gain the series sweep tomorrow," noted Brew.
