CLEVELAND, Miss. – Mississippi College upset No. 1 seed and host Delta State 9-8 in 11 innings late Tuesday evening and earned the right to face Lee in the Gulf South Conference championship game on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. Earlier on Tuesday the Flames dropped an 8-3 decision to West Georgia but Lee had already been declared the winner of Pool B and will be pitted against the Choctaws. The winner of Wednesday's contest advances to NCAA D2 South Region competition.
"We have battled through a lot this year and have had many ups and downs, but we are in a one game scenario for a GSC Championship. It shows the resilience of these guys all year. We have a great opportunity ahead of us for our program and university and we are excited," said Lee head coach Mark Brew.
Two of Lee's three runs came off home runs by Miguel Pimentel. His first blast left the park in the first inning and gave Lee one of its few edges the entire contest. Pimentel went deep again in the third inning but the Wolves came right back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.
The rest of the game belonged to the Georgia club. They went ahead for good in the fourth inning then tacked on two runs in the sixth and three insurance runs in the seventh.
The Flames did not get on the board again until the top of the ninth and it was Pimentel who again helped do the damage. He doubled, took third on an error and scored on a RBI ground out by Peyton Meeker. Overall, Pimentel collected four hits in five trips to the dish and scored all of Lee's runs.
Spencer Mossburg and Chase Andrews also had three hits in the loss. A pair of key double plays in the fourth and sixth innings helped kill Lee's threats of battling back. As in one night earlier, every Flame but two were able to post base hits. They out hit the Wolves 14-11 but stranded 13 baserunners.
Coach Brew elected to use eight different hurlers over eight innings. No Flame worked more than one frame. Winston Whitener was charged with the loss. Christian Bokich, David Pattinson, and John Reese Gilmer hurled scoreless innings.
"We didn't play very well today and looked a little sloppy with defense and base running in a few moments," noted coach Brew. "We banged out enough hits (14) to score more runs, but we just couldn't cash in on any big opportunities. All the credit to West Georgia. They had our number this year." The Wolves won all four meetings against the Flames this season.
Brian Dansereau banged out four hits, including a double for West Georgia. He also drove home two and scored once. Cade Marlowe also did his share of damage ripping a double, a single and posting two RBI.
Andres Fernandez started and worked seven innings for the Wolves. He allowed nine hits, struck out six and walked two. Dalton Reagin pitched the final two innings, giving up five hits and one earned run.
