OXFORD, Ala. – JJ Williams drove in four runs with three hits and Jack Nedrow picked up his 11th pitching win of the season as Lee University advanced to round two of the Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship with a 10-2 victory over the University of West Georgia on Friday evening at Choccolocco Park. The Flames (37-14) will face Valdosta State University on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. EDT. The Blazers advanced with a 13-2 eight-inning run-rule romp over the University of Montevallo.
Lee broke open a scoreless game in the third inning. Brandon Daniels singled and Riley Black joined Matthew Batts with back-to-back walks. Williams struck his first big blow of the evening with a double that plated Daniels and Black. Batts would score on a wild pitch to make it a 3-0 lead.
The Flames made it a 5-0 contest in the fifth inning, and it was Williams doing the major damage again. After Batts was hit by a pitch, Williams slammed a two-run homer over the right-centerfield fence.
Cam Suto gave Coach Mark Brew a change to give Nedrow some rest after the sixth inning. Brantley Cutler opened the inning with a free pass and Dylan Standifer was hit by a pitch. Suto drilled his shot over the left-field wall that scored Cutler and Standifer. All of a sudden, the Flames had a comfortable 8-1 advantage.
Nedrow worked six innings and allowed five hits and one earned run. He struck out nine and walked two before giving way to Ty Cobb. In 2.1 innings, Cobb gave up four hits and an earned run. He also walked a pair. Hunter Lane was called on to seal the deal for the Flames. He retired the final two West Georgia hitters with two straight strikeouts.
Lee made the best of eight hits. Daniels ripped a long homerun to right-field in the eighth inning and joined Williams with six of the eight hits. Suto and Black had the other Flames hits. Lee took advantage of nine walks and two hit batters.
West Georgia outhit Lee 9-8. Patrick McCullough had a pair of doubles while Sam Lader collected a double and a single and Cooper Prince banged out a pair of hits for the Wolves. L. Hatcher had a one-base hit and posted one of his team's two RBI with a sac fly. Jackson Webb pushed across the other Wolves run another sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
Seth Dudley (5-4) was the starting and losing West Georgia pitcher. In five innings he allowed five hits and five earned runs. He walked five and struck out four. Jack Rosmussen followed for one inning. He gave up two hits and three earned runs. Carson Crossley pitched the final two innings. He allowed just one hit but two earned runs while striking out three and walking three.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"It wasn't our best performance as a team, but being able to win when you don't play great is an important team characteristic. JJ had some great swings at the plate tonight and Jack gave us a solid start and we got nine big outs between Ty and Hunter.
"We will need to play better tomorrow against a Valdosta team that's been playing really well down the stretch."
