The Lee baseball team battled back to take a potential frost bite away from visiting Frostburg State (Maryland) on Family Weekend at Larry Carpenter Stadium on Friday afternoon. The Flames fell behind twice and the contest was tied at 7-7 before a pair of solo two-run homers in the bottom of the eighth helped produce the exciting, evenly played 9-7 victory.
The two clubs will continue the three-game, non-conference series again on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12 noon. The win improves Lee's record to 11-10 while Frostburg State falls to 7-4.
"I was proud of how our guys responded today after falling behind a couple times. Casteel gave us a nice effort out of the bullpen and we were able to use the long ball offensively. I liked our energy today and how we fought and looking forward to see if we can duplicate it tomorrow," proclaimed Coach Mark Brew after the contested ended.
The Flames pounded out six extra-base hits in the triumph and four went yard. Nate Bynum ripped his first two homers of the year while Josiah Miller hit his team-leading fifth, Dylan Standifer and Cam Suto their fourth.
Lee used three pitchers. Sam Fulton gave up three runs in the first inning and another in the fifth. All totaled he worked five innings, allowing seven hits, all four runs were earned, struck out six and walked two. David Wright came on in the sixth for 1.2 innings. He allowed three hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Sean Casteel toed the rubber for the final 2.1 frames and allowed a hit and one unearned run. He fanned two and was credited with his first pitching victory of the year.
Suto's homer came in the first inning as the Flames put one run on the board. The contest was tied at three in the second after Riley Black and Standifer were credited with RBI after drawing walks with the bases loaded. In the fourth, Bynum blasted a homerun to put the Flames on top for the first time, 4-3.
In the seventh, Miller stroked his four-bagger that also scored Suto. Brandon Daniels doubled, stole third and then scored on a wild pitch. The big highlight came in the eighth when Bynum and Standifer hit the thrilling homeruns.
Mikey Guy had three hits, including a double. He scored two runs and knocked in one. Trevor Jones banged out a two-bagger, drove three runs across the plate and also scored twice. Danny Estrada joined Aidan Duda in the two-hit club. Estrada had a double, RBI and scored two runs. Frostburg used three pitchers. Hayden Ford started and pitched 3.2 innings. Will Grove followed for 2.2 frames. Nate Vermillion was charged with the loss after he pitched 1.2 innings.
