After dropping the first two games in a three-game series with Shorter University, the Lee baseball team rallied back and won the final contest by a commanding 9-0 score. The Flames improved to 25-4 overall and 20-3 in the GSC standings. Shorter which won Saturday's opener 11-6 stands at 21-9, 18-9.
Lee will travel to West Alabama for a three-game series on Friday and Saturday and then play a non-conference game at Young Harris before closing out the regular home season against Mississippi College on April 23-24. The regular season is slated to come to an end on April 30, May 1 when the Flames visit West Florida for an important three-game series.
Game Two – Lee 9, Shorter 0
Pitching was the name of the game for the Flames as Chandler Ring and Seth Konkel combined for a two-hit shutout. Ring worked the first six innings. The right-hander got credit for his fourth win of the year. He allowed two hits while striking out 10 and walking two. Konkel came on for the final three frames and did not allow a hit. He fanned five and issued one free pass.
"Ring turned in a big performance when we had to have it. He was in command all the way and did a nice job of attacking the zone when we got some runs early," praised Lee coach Mark Brew. "It was good to see Seth Konkel back on the mound and he looked like he did a few weeks back."
Nate Bynum paced the Lee hitters with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Dylan Standifer was the only other Flame with more than one hit. He had a pair of singles and scored a run. Ryan Beamish blasted a long homer over the right centerfield wall. It was his third home run of the series and he leads Lee with 14 slams for the season.
"I thought Nate Bynum gave us a nice lift offensively and we were able to tack on runs early and keep pushing away from them," noted Brew. "We just need to focus on winning series moving forward. It's never easy in the GSC, but our guys will be focused moving forward."
Alan Smith added a single and plated two runs. Colton Yeager also had a hit and a RBI. Justen Freeman got into the act with a one-base hit. He also tallied a run and knocked in one more. All totaled, Lee had 10 hits against five Shorter pitchers.
Taylor Boisclair started for the Hawks and was charged with the defeat. He pitched 3.2 innings and allowed seven hits, four earned runs, struck out five and walked three. Shorter committed three errors. Cory Mason doubled for one of the Hawks hits and Donavan Frayer collected the other safe blow.
Game One – Shorter 11, Lee 6
The Flames went on top 2-1 after four innings but the Hawks tallied four runs in the fifth and two in the sixth before adding four more in the ninth to put the contest out of reach. Lee rallied with some its younger players in the bottom of the ninth but that was not nearly enough.
Jesse Simpson who had pitched in only 14.1 innings the entire year, walked upon the hump and hurled eight strong innings against the Flames. He allowed five hits and four earned runs. The Flames got into the Hawks bullpen in the ninth as Sam Darling surrendered two earned runs and a pair of hits before Kenny Kinks ended the uprising.
Alex Harper-Cook was the Lee starter. The lefty went 4.2 innings and allowed four earned runs, struck out three and walked three. Alan Rickman followed for 0.2 innings and gave up two earned runs. Andrew Franklin and Alex Butler finished the contest. Harper-Cook suffered his first loss and his record dropped to 3-1.
The Flames had eight hits. Smith connected for a pair and a RBI. Nate Sumner, Landon Silver, Adam Goolsby and Brycen Jewell had one hit apiece. Standifer drove in a run with a double. Sumner, Silver, Goolsby and Jewell tallied Lee's runs.
Shorter banged out 11 hits, including home runs from Jaleeq Brannigan and Nate Butterworth. Matt Christian had a double and three RBI. Luis Acevedo doubled home two runs and Jacob Pajer also smashed a two-base hit that plated a pair of runs.
