OXFORD, Ala. – It will be wait until next year for the Lee University baseball team after dropping a 4-2 contest to old rival Trevecca Nazarene University in the loser's bracket of the Gulf South Conference Championship at Choccolocco Park. The Flames finished the season with a 24-26 record. For Coach Mark Brew it marks only the third losing season in 19 years as head coach of Lee baseball.
The Flames jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Brock Sisson reached on an error and stole second. He scored on a RBI single by Malachi Cloud. Cloud stole second (his 25th in 25 attempts) and tallied the game's second run on a one-base knock by Cooper Doughman.
The Trojans tied the contest in the top of the fourth. With two outs Brady Maciak singled to right and Frankie Carreras homered over the left-field wall.
Lee had an opportunity to retake the lead in the bottom of the fifth, but the inning ended with the bases loaded. With two outs, Luke Collier walked, and Isaiah French joined Tucker Platt with base hits to load the sacks. A fly out to deep center put a halt to the scoring threat.
The battle reached the top of the ninth and it appeared to be headed for extra innings. One out went up on the board and a strikeout followed, but the pitch went flying away from the Lee catcher and the runner reached first. Coach Brew went to his bullpen and called on Tim Gooden. Trevecca's Josh Griffin doubled down the left-field line, scoring both Trojan runners, putting Trevecca on top 4-2.
Malachi Cloud singled to open the bottom of the ninth but three outs followed and the season ended with the Flames being out-hit only 8-7, leaving seven runners on base and Trevecca stranding five.
Cloud and Doughman were the only Flames with two hits. They combined to drive in Lee's two runs while Cloud scored one of the two markers. French, Platt and Gavin Baxter banged out the Flames' other one-base knocks.
The crafty Ty Cobb started and pitched six solid innings for Lee. The right-hander gave up four hits, two earned runs, fanned four and walked one. Will Baker (2-7) came on in the seventh and worked 2.1 frames. The lefty took the loss. He allowed two hits, a pair of earned runs and struck out three. A hit batter turned out to be a key in the loss. Gooden retired a pair of batters in the ninth and gave up one hit that plated two unearned runs.
No Trevecca player had more than one hit. Carreras' two-run homer was the turning point in the fourth inning while Griffin had the other two RBIs with a two-base hit. Carreras tallied a pair of runs and Maciak joined pinch hitter Luke Dymond in tallying the Trojans' other scores.
Jonah Smithson toed the rubber for the first five innings for Trevecca. He surrendered six hits and two runs but only one was earned. He sat five Flames down on strikes and walked one. Nick Judd (5-5) gave the Trojans five solid innings of relief work. In four innings he allowed one hit, gave up no walks and struck out three.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"Our offense just couldn't sustain any rallies during the tournament. Our pitching did a solid job keeping us in it, but they got the big hit when they needed it. It's a bittersweet ending, but I'm proud of our seniors. They are great young men, and my hat is off to them. They battled through adversity all year and kept the team competing. We will need to do a lot of reflecting on this season and find ways to continue to improve the program moving forward."
