CARROLLTON, Ga. – An eighth inning rally led the West Georgia Wolves past the Lee baseball team in game one of a Gulf South Conference series on Friday evening from Cole Field.
The Flames took a 5-3 lead with a four-run eighth of their own capped off by back to back run-scoring doubles from Ryan Beamish and Joshua Perez.
The lead was short-lived however as the Wolves answered right back with four runs in the bottom of the frame to jump back ahead 7-5. Dan Obsert delivered the big blow with a two-run single to give the Wolves the late lead.
Drew Hayles (3-3) came on to record the final out in the eighth and worked a scoreless ninth to earn the win for West Georgia. Lee's Michael Hendricks fell to 3-4 on the mound as he surrendered three runs on two hits and walked two in eighth inning.
Tyler Payne got the Flames on the board first in the third inning as he tripled to drive home Thomas Zazzaro. After two quick outs Zazzaro doubled and then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Taylor Boisclair kept the Lee offense off-balanced over his 6.1 innings of work. He gave up just one run on five hits while striking out five.
Cade Marlow tied things up in the third with a single through the right side. Jermond Williams launched a solo home run in the fourth to give UWG a 2-1 lead.
Logan Workman got the start for the Flames and gave up three runs in four innings. Workman had plenty of traffic on the bases giving up 10 hits and two walks. He was lifted in the fifth after giving up a pair of hits to start the inning. Randall Coxwell tossed three scoreless innings of relief striking out two and giving up just one hit and one walk.
"It was a tough loss. We battled back and I was really proud of our offense finally breaking through. We swung the bats well in the later innings. We just didn't throw enough strikes to hold the lead. We need to have a short memory and play with the same urgency we played with late tomorrow. It's an important day for us," said Lee head coach Mark Brew.
The Flames fall back to even on the year at 16-16 and are 7-7 in league play. West Georgia improves to 14-7 and 9-9 in the GSC.
Lee and West Georgia will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
