CLEVELAND, Tenn. - After jumping out to a 6-1 lead, Lee had to battle from behind in the bottom of the seventh inning to finally claim a 9-7 victory over Middle Georgia State University and close out the home season at Larry Carpenter Stadium in the non-conference game on Tuesday afternoon.
The victory improves the Flames record to 32-14 overall and is their 12th win in their last 13 starts. They will travel to Nashville and face Trevecca Nazarene in a big three-game GSC series in contests that are currently scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
In the second and third innings with two outs, the Flames put three runs on the board in each frame to claim the 6-1 lead. Casen Youngblood began the rally in the second with a two-base hit and JJ Williams promptly followed with a double that plated Youngblood.
Braden Gabel put down a bunt that went for a single. The speeding Williams scored from third when the Middle Georgia catcher attempted to throw Gabel out as he was stealing second. Nate Dunfee singled home Gabel with the final run of the inning.
The third inning saw Cody Turner get the rally started with a one-base hit. Landon Franklin followed with a two-base knock. Youngblood singled that scored Turner and Williams hammered his second two-bagger that plated Franklin and Youngblood.
Middle Georgia cut the lead to 6-5 with a pair of runs in the sixth inning and then surprised the Flames by taking the lead at 7-6 with two more runs in the top of the seventh. Coach Mark Brew, who had earlier used six pitchers in the game, went to the bullpen again and called on Zach Tierney to put out the fire. The lefty did just that. He worked 1.2 innings and allowed just one hit, fanning two and walking one.
Lee reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Turner walked and Franklin delivered a single. Youngblood was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Ryan Valdes ripped a key hit when he doubled down the left-field line to plate Turner and Franklin, putting Lee on top for good, 7-6.
The Flames added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Luke Collier had a one-base hit and scored on a one-base knock by Turner. All totaled, Lee had 14 hits. Collier, Turner, Franklin, Youngblood, Williams and Dunfee all had two hits. The two doubles by Williams were followed by the two-base blast by Valdes. Franklin, Youngblood and Dunfee gave the Flames a total of five two-base knocks for the game.
Alex Brew was the Lee starting pitcher. He hurled two innings and gave up two hits and no earned runs while striking out four batters and allowing no walks. Five pitchers followed Brew to the mound before Tierney (3-0) came on to get credit for the win. Turner pitched the top of the ninth inning and gained his fourth save of the year.
Middle Georgia used four pitchers and Brandon Exley was charged with the loss. Christian Dillard had four hits, including a double for Middle Georgia. Dayton Taylor added a pair of hits, batted in two runs and scored once.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"It wasn't our best performance, but we found a way to get the win in the end. Ryan Valdes had a big double late and we had several two-out RBIs early. I thought our defense play late in game was excellent and we sent several guys to the mound to help get through the nine innings. It's a great way to close out our home regular-season schedule. Now we've got to turn our focus to a really good Trevecca team."
