GREENEVILLE, Tennessee – It was another case of the Lee baseball team falling behind early and never being quite able to catch up in an 11-5 loss to host Tusculum University at Pioneer Park on Tuesday evening. The loss dropped the Flams to 12-15 overall and the Pioneers improved to 12-14.
After being on the road for seven of their last eight games, the Flames will return home for an important three-game series against Alabama Huntsville on Friday and Saturday at Larry Carpenter Stadium. Friday's single game will get underway at 5 p.m. and Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
"Big innings continue to plague us. We fought our way back in the game, but it's going to be hard to win games giving up 5-and-4-run innings," remarked Lee coach Mark Brew after Tuesday's loss.
After Lee starter Sam Fulton pitched a scoreless first inning, the Flames went to the bullpen. Tim Gooden was called on and was charged with the loss. He recorded two outs in the second inning and allowed three hits and four earned runs. Sean Casteel followed for 1.1 innings and gave up an earned run while allowing two hits. Brycen Jewell followed for an inning and gave up a pair of earned runs and two hits.
The Lee bullpen settled down and the Flames fought back in the contest to cut the lead to 7-3 in the sixth inning. Cam Suto ripped his third homer of the season, driving home Matthew Batts and Dylan Standifer. Lee cut deeper into the lead in the seventh. Thomas Zazzaro tripled to right-center and Nate Bynum scored. Standifer's sacrifice fly plated Zazzaro. Bynum and Zazzaro had two hits apiece while Standifer and Suto had Lee's other hits.
Tusculum pitching shut down the Lee bats the rest of the game and put four big insurance runs on the board. The Flames did solid relief pitching from Kade Kozak for an inning and Greyson Linderman turned in his best effort of the year for two innings.
"I thought Linderman did a nice job on the mound, but we must find some consistency out of our bullpen guys. We have a big weekend in front us with UAH. We have to figure this out quickly before it's too late," Brew said in closing.
Zazzaro came on to retire one batter but allowed two hits and three earned runs. Alan Zhang Carter was called on and allowed a hit and walked a pair. He was charged with an earned run. Freshman Landon Maynor retired the final out in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Flames only managed six hits off five Pioneer pitchers. Tyler Harmon (1-0) started, hurled three innings, and was credited with the win. Wes Reynolds had two hits including a double and drove in a pair of runs but it was Zane Keener who delivered the big blow, a three-run homer and finished the evening with four RBI and two runs scored. Tyler Ranel and Ryan Dos Santos had two hits and tallied two runs.
