CLEVELAND, Tenn.-After scoring 29 runs in the first two games of the three-game Gulf South Conference series against the University of West Alabama, Lee's bats cooled off and the visiting Tigers took advantage of eight free passes and banged out 13 hits and came back to win the final contest of the weekend.
In splitting the doubleheader at Larry Carpenter Stadium, the Flames claimed the series 2-1 and improved to 16-5 in conference play and 28-10 overall. The Tigers stand at 10-14, 18-20. Lee captured the opener 13-3 in eight innings before being held to only five hits over seven innings in the nightcap and losing 10-3.
The 14th-ranked Lee club is slated to return to action on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and will host Tusculum University in a non-conference game. The Pioneers handed Lee one of their 10 defeats on March 27.
Game 1 – Lee 13, West Alabama 3
Keegan Gagliardo (6-0) pitched seven innings and allowed just three hits and two earned runs. He struck out eight and walked four in recording the pitching victory. Cole Matthaidess worked the final inning and gave up three hits before shutting the Tiger offense down.
Luke Collier took advantage of his only hit of the game. He drove in four runs and scored twice. Collier singled with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and also drove home a run with a fielder's choice in the eighth.
Josiah Miller was Lee's leading hitter. He had three hits, including a triple that plated three runs. Dylan Standifer, Cam Suto and Brandon Daniels collected two hits each. Suto ended the game with his one-base hit in the eighth inning that scored Miller. Standifer crossed the plate twice while Daniels scored two times and had a RBI.
Matthew Batts blasted his ninth homerun of the year while JJ Williams and Brock Sisson had one hit each. Williams joined Batts in scoring twice.
West Alabama used four pitchers in the loss. Roe Ketchum (1-3) was the starter and loser. He worked 4.1 innings and gave up five hits and four earned runs. Gates Pee followed for one inning. He gave up four earned runs. Luke Fondren was the final hurler of the afternoon for the Tigers. In picking up a couple of outs he gave up three earned runs and four hits.
Blake Vineyard and Nick Thivodbau had two hits apiece in the loss. They both scored a run while Chase Dejean doubled to drive in another West Alabama run. All totaled the Tigers had six hits off the two Lee pitchers.
Game 2 – West Alabama 10, Lee 3
It was a complete reversal in the final game of the three-game series. The Tigers took advantage of Lee pitchers hitting five batters and walking three others. At the same time, West Alabama bats came alive and they delivered 13 hits.
Nelson Smith (3-4) failed to get out of the second inning and took the loss. In 1.1 frames, he allowed two hits, four earned runs and hit four Tiger batters. Ty Cobb followed for two innings. He gave up five hits and five earned runs. Hunter Lane also ran into trouble and surrendered three hits and an earned run. Tim Gooden, David White and Frankie Volkers came on to settle things down for the Flames but the damage had been done.
Lee managed only five hits in the 7-inning contest. Miller drilled a solid line-drive homer over the right-field wall and also singled. He was credited with all three Flames RBI. Suto, Williams and Collier had Lee's other hits. Collier and Riley Black scored runs for the Flames.
Houston Kitterman led West Alabama with three hits. Bryce Newman, Vineyard, Dejean and Cade Horton posted two hits apiece. Dejean and Horton knocked in three runs each while Newman collected a pair of RBI.
Maxwell Schumacher was the Tiger starter. He pitched 2.1 innings and allowed three hits and three earned runs. The rest belonged to the successful West Alabama bullpen. Laney Keeton (2-1) came on for 2.2 innings and did not allow an earned run. Judah Buckner followed for the next two frames and completely shut down the Flames. Â
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"We've been on a run where we won eight consecutive GSC games, so I'm really proud of the guys and how we've come ready to play each weekend. Certainly we would've loved to gotten game three today, but West Alabama played better than we did and they deserved to win. We still got the weekend series, which is always important as we continue to progress through the season.
"I thought Keegan had an excellent start today and our offense once again was huge in game one, but they were able to silence our bats in game two and we didn't execute pitchers like we did in the first two games.
"We've got another big week with a mid-week game against Tusculum and we head to a tough place to play at Union (next weekend)."
