CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Riding outstanding pitching and timely hitting, the Lee University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of the University of Alabama in Huntsville with doubleheader wins, 5-0 and 13-3 on Saturday afternoon at Larry Carpenter Stadium.
The victories improved Lee to 3-3 in GSC play and 9-5 overall. The Chargers slipped to 3-3, 7-7. The Flames face their biggest test of the season on Tuesday when they travel to North Greenville University to face the No. 1-ranked team in the D2 rankings.
Game 1 – Lee 5, UAH 0
Dylan Van Meeteren (2-2) hurled six innings of three-hit ball in claiming the pitching win. He struck out five and walked two. Colt McKibben was impressive in three innings of relief work. The lefty did not allow a hit. He walked one and struck out one.
The Flames scored a solo run in the first inning on a walk to JJ Williams. He stole second and went to third on a passed ball. He scored on a fielder's choice and RBI by Isaiah French. They did not score again until adding insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Malachi Cloud, Levi Cloud and Ryan Valdez singled in the sixth. Malachi and Levi scored runs while Levi and Valdez collected RBI in the frame.
In the seventh, Luke Collier, Cooper Doughman and Josiah Miller posted hits and Miller drove in a pair of runs with his key one-base knock. All totaled, Lee did not have an extra-base hit in the win, collecting nine singles. Collier and Ashton Simmons had two hits apiece.
Huntsville got a pair of hits from Braxton Griffin and Sean Sapinskes had the other hit in the Charger loss. Colin Patterson (0-2) was the starting and losing pitcher. In 5.1 innings, he allowed five hits, only two earned runs, fanned five and walked four. Hunter MacLeod and Peyton Lemons pitched the final 2.2 frames.
Game 2 – Lee 13, UAH 3
Will Baker (2-2) turned in his top pitching performance of the year. The lefty hurled six innings and allowed one hit and no earned runs. He struck out seven batters and walked just one. Ty Cobb came on for the seventh and gave up a pair of hits, two earned runs and fanned one hitter.
Williams enjoyed another big game for the Flames. He blasted a grand-slam homer in the third inning and came back with a two-run double in the fifth. All totaled, Williams finished with six RBI and scored twice. Collier continued his solid hitting with a double and a single. He also scored two runs.
The bottom of the Lee batting order had four hits and scored five runs. Simmons led the way with his first homer of the year. He also had a one-base knock and tallied three runs. Valdez had a double, a single and scored two runs. Tucker Platt drove in a run and scored once with a hit.
French tallied two runs, collected a hit and pushed one run across the plate. Brock Sisson got into the act with a hit and run scored while Gavin Baxter wasted no time when he got into the contest and blasted a double that knocked in a run.
The Chargers got a homerun and two RBI from Connor Wilson while Sapinskes had a hit and scored the only other run for UAH. Ty Hutto (1-2) was the starting and losing pitcher. He gave up five hits and six earned runs in 2.2 innings. Three other hurlers followed Hutto to the mound.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"I was really proud of our pitchers today. They set the tone and did an excellent job on a good UAH offense. Collier swung a hot bat all weekend and JJ had the big second game with six big RBI. I liked how our offense clicked this weekend, even with playing multiple line-ups and several different players. We've got a great opportunity in the mid-week with a really good University of North Greenville team. We need to have good challenges like this to find out more about our team."
