JEFFERSON CITY, Tennessee – The Lee baseball team bounced back in a big way on Tuesday afternoon. After suffering a pair of defeats over the weekend to the University of North Georgia, the Flames unloaded for 13 hits and handed Carson-Newman (4-1) its first loss of the season.
"I was really proud of the team today," said Coach Mark Brew after the Flames fought hard for the 11-9 victory. "Carson-Newman is a very good team and this is a great road win for us. Our offense showed up in a really big way today. We had some big two-strike hits and some quality battles at the plate."
Lee jumped out to a 9-3 lead after four innings and then had to hold on to even its record against two quality opponents to 2-2 for the year. "Hunter Lane once again stepped up big for us recording the final outs," noted Brew. Lane came on to work 1.1 innings and allowed just one hit. He did not issue a free pass and struck out two in picking up the second save of the season.
All totaled, both sides used seven pitchers in the three-hour, 38-minute contest. Jake Nedrow pitched one inning. Sean Casteel came on the next two innings and recorded his second pitching win. Sam Fulton also pitched two innings. Kade Kozak was called on for 1.1 innings as was Brycen Jewell before Lane sealed the deal. Noah Pridemore was the starter and loser for the Eagles.
Joshua Perez had a big day at the dish for the Flames. He doubled in the second and ripped a long homerun over the right-field wall in the seventh inning. He finished the afternoon with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored.
Jared Demkowicz was not to be outdone. He had two hits and drove in three runs while scoring twice. Demkowicz's three-run homer plated all of Lee's runs in the second inning and his two-base knock came in the fifth. Dylan Standifer had a double, a single and scored twice while Jake Edwards got his first start of the year and had a pair of hits collecting an RBI and scoring a run.
Lee catcher Isaac Quinones not only did a solid job of handling the pitchers, he also had a pair of hits, batted in a run and crossed the plate twice. Justen Freeman had a two-base hit and tallied twice while Luke Hughes had a hit and an RBI.
Carson-Newman also banged out six doubles. Kilian Daughtry, Zack Boze, Andrew Carpenter and Micah Genter had eight of the Eagles 13 hits. Daughtry and Carpenter each scored three runs while Boze and Cade Burkey got on the board with two RBI apiece.
"We have another big weekend with a quality Lindenwood team coming up. We need a good week of practice to prep for them," concluded Coach Brew. The Flames will play their first doubleheader of the season on Saturday when they host the Missouri squad beginning at 2 p.m. at Larry Carpenter Stadium. A single game will follow on Sunday afternoon, slated for 1 p.m.
