Thanks to outstanding pitching the Lee baseball team opened up the 2018 season with a doubleheader sweep over Tuskegee University on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Olympic Field.

The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

GAME 2 LEE 5 TU 0
Pat Morrow (1-0) tossed six shutout innings and struck out 10 batters to help the Flames complete the doubleheader sweep of the Golden Tigers.

The junior-transfer from Hill College (Texas) allowed just three hits as he kept Tuskegee off-balance at the plate all afternoon long with a upper 80's fastball while getting several hitters to swing through a devastating slider.

"Much like Freeman setting the tone in game one, Patrick really did a nice job of keeping them off balance the entire game," said head coach Mark Brew. "We probably could have sent him out for the 7th, but felt with the cold evening it would be best to move to Workman."

Spencer Mossburg provided the offense punch as he delivered a two-run double in the first inning and a RBI sacrifice bunt in the fifth.

"On the offensive side of the ball I thought Mossburg had two big AB's with the big 2 RBI single in the 1st and the safety squeeze RBI later in the game to help push us away from them," added Brew. "Payne and Fernie (Ortiz) really did a nice job setting the offense from the 1-2 spot in the line-up."

Tyler Payne singled down the left field line in the third inning to drive home Justen Freeman with the third run of the game while Peyton Meeker added some insurance with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

Freshman Logan Campbell came on to work the final inning in relief for Lee and kept the shutout intact as he induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Christian Marshall was the losing pitcher for the Golden Tigers as he threw four innings allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits. Marshall walked three and finished with three strikeouts.

Offensively the Lee pitching staff limited the Alabama club to just three singles from Lance Hamilton, Jalen Luter and Tyari Albright.

"Defensively we had a really good day with 16 innings and 0 errors. Offensively, we left some opportunities out there and I am really excited to see how we improve in the area tomorrow. Anytime you win a series on day one it's a big accomplishment. It gives you that chance to sweep on Sunday and it's a great opportunity in front of us to start the season," concluded Brew.

GAME 1 LEE 6 TU 1
Eric Freeman and Wes Albert combined to allow just one run on four hits to lead the Lee baseball team to a 6-1 victory over Tuskegee in game one of Saturday's Opening Day doubleheader.

Freeman, a senior transfer from the University of Tennessee, made the most of his Flames' debut as he scattered three hits while striking out eight in five innings of work to earn the victory. The hard-throwing righty walked two and allowed just one run.

Albert came on in relief and shutdown the Golden Tigers over four innings and was credited with the save. The senior allowed just one hit and fanned eight.

The Lee offense got going in the second inning as Justen Freeman, a freshman third baseman and brother of starter Eric Freeman, singled to right field to score Chase Gadau. Dalton Ney followed with an infield RBI single to make it 2-0.

The Flames tacked on three more runs in the third frame as Meeker roped a two-run double to left field and score on a Brayden Ware one-base knock to left center.

The final run of the game came on a steal of home by freshman Thomas Zazzaro after coming on to pinch running for Miguel Pimentel. Pimentel doubled earlier in the inning but was lifted as he came up lame on a dive back to third. The double steal was put in motion by head coach Mark Brew and executed to perfection by Gadau and Zazzaro.

Trey Nelson was tagged with the loss for Tuskegee. Nelson tossed 115 pitches over six innings allowing six runs, five earned on six hits. He walked five and finished with four punch outs. Lajerrius Haralson worked two scoreless innings in relief and yielded just one walk.

"Freeman gave us a quality start, though I didn't think he had his best stuff today. He competed well and was able to make some big pitches with his slider," said Brew. "Wes I thought did tremendous job and had command of all three pitches and was in total control the last 4 innings. Offensively, we did a great job of being aggressive on the bases and create some run scoring opportunities.  The bottom of the line up did a good job of picking us up with some big knocks to give us some distance from them."