PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Lee baseball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA South Region with a 4-3, 11-inning victory over Gulf South Conference rival Delta State on Thursday evening at Jim Spooner Field.
The Flames will face top-seeded West Florida, who easily defeated Edward Waters earlier on Thursday, at 6 p.m. on Friday. The Statesmen and the Tigers will battle for survival in the loser's bracket in the earlier game.
Lee (37-17) fell behind 2-0 in the third inning when Tucker Jones singled and Levi Lang homered. The Flames did not score until the top of the sixth inning when Braden Gabel connected for his second home run of the season to make it a 2-1 game.
Lee tied the game in the eighth at two with its second long ball of the contest when Luke Collier ripped a shot over the centerfield wall. It was his 12th homer of the year. The Flames grabbed the lead for the first time in the top of the ninth at 3-2 when Landon Franklin doubled and scored on Nate Caraballo's one-base knock.
In the bottom of the same inning, Delta State took advantage of a walk, a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt to place a runner at third base. The ground ball by Henley Parker scored Cade Greer that tied the game at three and sent the contest into extra innings.
Neither team was able to score in the 10th. Cody Turner, who came on in relief of Evan Bloomer to pitch in the eighth inning, decided to end the game by himself. The left-handed hitter homered over the left-field fence to put the Flames on top 4-3. He then returned to the mound and struck out two batters in the bottom of the 11th to secure the Lee victory.
Bloomer had another strong performance, working eight innings and allowing five hits and three earned runs. Turner (3-5) came on for the final three frames and struggled with control problems. He walked six and fanned two in picking up the victory.
Turner had three hits, including his game-winning homerun for the Flames. Gabel had two hits, including his homer. Franklin doubled and scored a run while Isaiah French also had a two-base hit, and Caraballo came on in reserve and picked up a key RBI single.
Adrian Byrd started and pitched 7.2 innings for Delta State. He allowed six hits, two earned runs and struck out eight. Dawson Muenzenmay came out of the pen for 3.1 frames and allowed three hits and two earned runs and was charged with the loss. Jones had two hits for the Statesmen while Lang had the four-bagger and a one-base hit.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"I'm extremely proud of our team and how we fought through all the adversity tonight. We fell behind against a really good pitcher, and battled our way back off swings from Gabel, Collier, Caraballo and Turner. Bloomer pitched great, and I thought our defense was excellent tonight. Turner didn't have his best command but carried nine huge outs for us. It'll be another big game with West Florida tomorrow and we are excited for the opportunity."
