CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Evan Bloomer (6-0) pitched nine innings and allowed only five hits, while striking out eight Valdosta State University hitters and walking one in leading the Lee University baseball team to an 8-2 victory over the Blazers at Larry Carpenter Stadium on Friday afternoon. The two GSC teams will tangle again in a doubleheader slated to begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
All nine players in the Flames' batting order had at least one of the 18 hits in the win as Lee improved to 16-9 in conference play and 26-13 overall. Valdosta State dropped to 10-15, 14-25.
The Flames jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. The Blazers cut the lead to 5-2 in the fourth, but Lee salted the victory away with a single run in the seventh and a pair of insurance runs in the eighth.
Aiden McClary, Luke Collier and Landon Franklin had three hits each in the win. Franklin collected his fourth homer of the year. He also had a double and a single and finished the contest with three RBI. Collier set a new Flames career record when he ripped his fifth triple in the first inning. He also had a pair of one-base hits and a RBI. McClary had three one-base knocks and drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch.
Cody Turner contributed his ninth two-base hit of the season. He also singled, scored twice, and knocked in a run. JJ Williams had a pair of singles and a run scored, and Keilin Sanders registered two one-base hits, his first was a bunt hit. Isaiah French countered with a hit, RBI and a run scored while Casen Youngblood and Braden Gabel put every Lee starter in the scorebook with a base hit. They both scored a run.
Ryan Strachan had the only extra-base hit, a double, for the Blazers. He also scored one of his team's two runs and posted a RBI. Brent Howard singled and scored while Charlie Banks picked up the other RBI in the loss.
Garrett Moody (0-4) was the starting and losing Valdosta State pitcher. He worked three innings and allowed seven hits and five earned runs. Drake LaRoche entered for the final five innings. He gave up 11 hits and three earned runs.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"Our offense once again showed up and we were able to pound out 18 hits, but they were able to limit some damage and keep us from putting some crooked numbers up and getting away from them until late. Evan Bloomer was tremendous and had command of four pitches all night and did a really good job of mixing. Our defense once again was solid with a couple of really nice plays by Keilin Sanders in the outfield. It's another big day tomorrow and we've got to come out and repeat some of the positive things we did today."
