Lee pushed across a winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to score a hard-earned 8-7 victory over 15^th-ranked Catawba College (NC) on a cool Sunday afternoon at Olympic Field. The Flames took 2-of-3 from the visitors and will now head south for four non-conference tests.
 
With the battle deadlocked at seven in the final frame, Geremy Walton singled to help get the winning rally started. Drew Johnson followed with a double and Peyton Meeker was intentionally walked to load the bases. Miguel Pimentel played the role of hero when he singled up the middle to score Walton with the winning run.
 
The Indians jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning when Luke Setzer placed a fly ball to left field that skipped over the wall and produced a grand-slam homerun.
 
The Flames began their comeback in the bottom of the third with a solo homerun off the bat of Spencer Mossburg. Walton, who enjoyed a big afternoon, singled in the inning as did Zack Zyburt. Later in the frame, Nate Wierzgac scored on an error to make it a 4-2 game. Walton finished the day with a double and two singles. He also collected a pair of RBI and scored twice.
 
Lee cut the margin to 4-3 in the fourth inning when Meeker delivered a sacrifice fly that scored Tyler Payne. The Flames jumped on top with three runs in the fifth inning. Wierzgac had the key blow, a triple that pushed Johnson, who had doubled, and Walton across the plate to give the Flames a 6-4 lead. Another run in the sixth inning gave Lee what appeared to be a comfortable 7-4 margin when Walton scored again on a sac fly by Zyburt.
 
The Indians fought back with three runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the contest at seven and set up the winning score by the Flames in the bottom of the ninth.
 
"I'm really proud of our team's response today," said Coach Mark Brew after the win. "Catawba punched us in the mouth early and late, but our team responded on both occasions. Today's win is not how I would have scripted it but we took 2-of-3 from a quality program this weekend."
 
The Flames used six pitchers in the victory. Rob Gustitus started and worked 1 1/3 innings. Wes Albert and Jay Prior were singled out by Coach Brew for their relief work. Albert hurled 3 1/3 innings and did not allow a hit. Prior came on for the next two innings and gave up a pair of hits but did not walk an Indian hitter.
 
"I thought the bullpen duo of Wes and Jay did a great job of settling us down early and Corbin (Lamb) battled through some tough situations late," praised Brew. Lamb pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and allowed two hits but no earned runs. He was the winning hurler.
 
The Flames collected 11 hits off five Catawba hurlers. Wierzgac finished with a pair of hits, two runs batted in and scored once. Jeffrey Chapuran also had two hits and scored one of Lee's eight runs. Payne and Johnson also crossed the plate in the win.
 
Chance Bowden joined Jeremy Simpson with two hits for the losers. Bowden collected a double and scored twice. Michael Elwell was the Indian starting pitcher and worked 4 1/3 innings before being lifted. Bryan Blanton came on in the ninth and allowed two hits in taking the loss.
 
Brew pointed out that it will not get any easier for his club with their road trip down South during the coming week. "We will be playing four nine-inning games in three days." The Flames open at Albany State (Albany, Ga.) on Thursday and then they move on for a three-game series (Feb. 10-11) at St. Leo University (Fla.). "We will need everyone on our pitching staff to contribute," concluded the Lee skipper.