OXFORD, Alabama – Lee rebounded from a shocking loss to Delta State on Saturday by returning in the loser's bracket to eliminate Valdosta State 13-7 on Sunday morning at Choccolocco Park. The Flames will seek to stay alive when they face West Florida this afternoon at approximately 6 p.m.
Lee (34-8) went right to work in the bottom of the first inning, jumping out to a 5-1 advantage. Thomas Zazzaro, who enjoyed one of his best games of the season, walked to get the rally started. Alan Smith reached on a catcher's interference call and Ryan Beamish delivered a RBI single. The big blow came after Dylan Standifer walked to load the bases. Colton Yeager blasted a grand-slam homer down the left-field line.
"I was really proud of how we came out ready today. We looked motivated and had some quality at bats up and down the line-up, leading to some big innings early," pointed out Lee head coach Mark Brew. " We've got another tough opponent with West Florida, and we need to be ready to go from inning one again."
The Flames continued the attack with two runs in the second inning and increased the lead to 7-1. Nate Bynum singled and scored on a RBI double by Zazzaro. After a sacrifice bunt and with two outs, Zazzaro scored on a balk by the Valdosta pitcher.
The lead was increased to 11-2 in the third. Silver was hit by a pitch and later scored on another single by Bynum. Zazzaro walked and Justen Freeman was hit by a pitch. Smith got into the act with a solid single, driving home Bynum and Zazzaro. Beamish continued his solid tournament performance with a one-base hit up the middle that plated Freeman.
Valdosta State rallied back to cut the lead to 11-6 in the top of the fourth. Lee's scoring ended for the day in the fourth as two runs stretched the margin to 13-6. Alan Goolsby and Bynum singled and Zazzaro doubled to left center scoring Bynum and Goolsby.
Bynum and Zazzaro paced the Lee 13-hit attack. Bynum had four hits, an RBI and crossed the dish three times. Zazzaro had a pair of doubles, drove in three runs, and scored three more. Smith had a pair of RBI and scored while Beamish had two hits, two RBI and a run scored. Yeager made the best of his one-hit afternoon with a four-run shot in the first that got the Flames off to a hot start.
Tyler Fairchild came on in relief of Alex Harper-Cook and picked up his first pitching win of the year. He toed the rubber for four innings and allowed four hits, one earned run, striking out three and walking one. Harper-Cook was on the bump for the first 3.2 innings. The lefty allowed six hits and five earned runs. He fanned four and issued a free pass. Michael Hendricks completed the afternoon, working the final 1.1 innings. He did not allow a run, walked one and struck out one.
"Tyler Fairchild gave us four quality innings in the middle and helped us minimize bullpen usage," explained Brew.
The Blazers had four players with two hits each. Ben Rowdon and Nick Lewis stroked doubles while David Maberry homered. Zach Blankenship (4-3) was charged with the Valdosta pitching loss. He gave up seven runs over two innings. Roger Ceballos also gave up four earned runs and Alex Tyson, Kevin Tomas and Luke Ard finished the contest for the losers.
