Thanks to strong pitching the Lee baseball team swept a doubleheader from the Valdosta State Blazers to open up Gulf South Conference play with a series victory on Saturday afternoon from the new and improved Olympic Field.
The Flames gave up just two runs over the 16 innings, winning game one, 2-1 before taking the nightcap, 5-1.
"Our pitching and defense was tremendous all day today. We were able to manufacture runs through the short game and running game until we got some better swings later in the day," said Lee head coach Mark Brew. "It's a great start to our GSC slate of games. Series wins in the GSC aren't easy to come by and I was really proud of the teams play today."
The Flames improve to an even 5-5 overall and are 2-1 in the GSC. The Blazers fall to 8-3 and are 1-2 in league play.
Lee will wrap up a four-game home stand with a single game against Carson-Newman on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
LEE 2 VSU 1
Alex Butler (1-0) worked six shutout innings allowing just four hits to lead the Flames to a 2-1 victory in game one on Saturday.
All-GSC reliever Logan Workman slammed the door closed with 1.1 innings of shutout relief to earn his third save of the season.
The Flames scored two runs in the fifth inning thanks to a bunt single by Parker Stahlman and a costly error by the Blazers.
DJ King got Valdosta within a run on a two-out RBI double in the eighth inning off of Ian Turner. Workman came on to reliever Turner and gave up a walk before getting a huge pick off to end the threat.
Blazer starter Jonathan Gettys was equally impressive as he tossed six innings allowing just two unearned runs while striking out seven. Alex Tyson and Bryce Van Horn combined for two innings of scoreless relief to keep the game within a run.
LEE 5 VSU 1
Miguel Pimentel and Ryan Beamish homered to back another strong outing from the pitching staff as the Flames completed the sweep with a 5-1 victory in the nightcap.
Michael Hendricks (2-1) started on the bump and allowed just three hits and run to earn the victory. Hendricks struck out three and walked three over four innings.
David Pattison, Randall Coxwell and Workman finished things off with three scoreless innings of relief.
The Flames made the most of their six hits as Pimentel launched his second home run of the season in the fourth inning. Beamish followed with his third long ball of the year two batters later and Tyler Payne delivered a sacrifice fly to complete the three-run inning.
Lee tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the sixth. Payne executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Keshaun Smith and Stahlman scored on obstruction by the third baseman.
Cooper Cain (1-1) started and went 3.2 innings for the visitors. He gave up three runs on three hits and walked four. Bryce Van Horn, Ethan Koehler, Call Graham and Alex Tyson combined to toss 3.1 innings of relief and allowed two runs on three hits.
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