CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After dropping a pair of games to Mississippi College on Friday at Larry Carpenter Stadium, Lee University bounced back and posted a 1-0 victory in a superb pitching duel on a windy Saturday afternoon. The important GSC win improved the Flames to 6-9 in conference action and 13-13 overall.
The defeat ended a 10-game winning streak by the Choctaws. They slipped to 10-5, 17-9. Lee remains at home on Tuesday and will face another tough challenge against Young Harris College (4 p.m.).
The Flames broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the seventh inning. Josiah Miller doubled down the leftfield line to begin the rally. Gavin Baxter put down a sacrifice bunt to move Miller to third. Malachi Cloud singled home Miller with what turned out to be the winning run.
Lee put together seven hits in posting the badly needed win. Tucker Platt had a pair of singles to lead the way. Baxter tripled and JJ Williams doubled while Isaiah French and Cloud had the other hits.
Colt McKibben (2-0) turned in the top pitching performance of his career. The junior lefty worked seven innings and allowed only two hits. He struck out six and did not surrender a walk. Seth Parker was called on for 1.2 innings and allowed one hit. Tim Gooden picked up his second save when he came out of the pen to record the final out after giving up the Choctaws only free pass of the contest.
Mississippi College had one serious scoring threat. In the fifth inning Logan Shurden reached on an error. He stole second and Blaise Breerwood also reached on a Flame miscue and Shurden advanced to third. McKibben recorded a strikeout for the second out and then picked Breerwood off first for the final out of the inning.
Bryce LaRocca, Korey Cooper and Bryce Capobianco had the other hits for the Choctaws, all were singles. Caleb Peterson gave the Mississippi College team seven solid innings of pitching. The right-hander allowed seven hits and one earned run. He did not issue a free pass and fanned eight. Kyle Collet pitched the eighth inning and gave up a hit.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"It was a big win for our team against a really good MC team. Nothing is coming easy for us as a team, but our guys are fighting. McKibben gave us a great start and Parker and Gooden did a great job closing the door. The weather was crazy, even into the last out."
