Not much went right for the Lee baseball team as it dropped a non-conference game to Belmont Abbey, 14-5 on Tuesday afternoon from Olympic Field.
The Flames ran into trouble in the fourth as the Crusaders struck for six runs. The visitors put it out of reach with a five-run fifth frame.
Lee pitchers did themselves no favors with 12 walks in the contest. Michael Hendricks (3-5) started and pitched two innings giving up one run on one hit and two free passes. The Flames used a total of eight hurlers in the contest.
The Flames got on the board in the fourth inning. Miguel Pimentel started things off with a bullet double off the left center field wall with one out. Pimentel would come home to score as Alan Smith delivered a run scoring single. Alan Smith finished with three hits and three RBI.
Evan Campbell (1-2) earned the win for Belmont Abbey on the mound. The righty gave up one run on five hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked a pair.
Pimentel doubled and singled to improve on his team-leading .380 average. Â Fernando Ortiz had two base knocks and scored twice.
"It was a disappointing day. For whatever reason, our pitching staff has been not been pitching competitively the past few games. Too many freebies and a major lack of focus keeps us from being able to stop the big inning," said head coach Mark Brew. "It's on me as a coach to reach these guys, and I haven't been able to push the right buttons with this team. We will keep working to get things corrected. It's another big weekend in front of us and I expect us to come out with a different mindset against Delta State."
Ben Gobbel led the Crusaders with three hits from the leadoff spot and drove in three runs. Patrick Taylor and Ben Sneider also had multi-hit efforts and each drove in two. All totaled the visitors had 12 hits, 12 walks and two batters reach via hit-by-pitch.
The loss drops Lee to 16-19 on the year. Belmont Abbey improves to 19-20.
The Flames will welcome No. 12 Delta State to town for a three-game Gulf South Conference weekend series beginning Saturday at 2 p.m.
Lee will dedicate the new baseball stadium at Olympic Field in a special pre-game ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. The gate will open at 1 p.m.
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