PENSACOLA, Fla. – Host University of West Florida (43-14) broke open a scoreless game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and earned a spot in the Super Regional with the 2-0 victory over Lee (38-19) in the South Regional final at Jim Spooner Field on Sunday afternoon.
It was the seventh meeting between the two rivals and after Sunday's defeat, Lee still owns a 4-3 edge in the series. The loss ended an outstanding season by the Flames, who started slow but picked momentum as the season progressed, and finished strong to earn the runner-spot in the South Regional.
The Flames outhit the Argonauts 8-7 but left eight runners on base while the Argos left seven stranded. Lee had only one player with two hits. Landon Franklin singled in the sixth inning but was wiped out by a double play. He doubled to lead off the ninth. However, three straight Flames were retired to end the game.
Braden Gabel, Luke Collier, Isaiah French, Cody Turner, Keilin Sanders and Nate Dunfee all connected with one-base hits for Lee. The biggest major threat came in the fifth inning when the Flames began the inning with base hits by Sanders and Dunfee. Gabel put down a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third, but a fly out and a ground out ended the scoring threat.
The Argonauts tallied their runs when Greg Pettay opened the seventh with a one-base knock and Alex Urias picked up a free pass. The runners advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Pettay scored on a passed ball. With the Lee infield pulled in, Ethan Babcock grounded to third. Urias broke for home and slid under the tag at the plate to put the second run on the board.
Cody Turner (3-6) turned in a solid 6.2 innings for Lee. The lefty allowed six hits and only one earned run. He struck out two and walked one. Mason Bratcher worked the final 1.1 frames and gave up a hit, no runs, struck out one and walked one.
West Florida used four pitchers in the win. Garrett Brewer hurled the first four innings, allowing four hits and no runs. Blake Thomas came on for an inning and was followed by Braden Rapp, who was called on for three frames, allowing a couple of hits and no runs. The Argos went to their closer in the ninth. Micky Scheetz picked up his 16th save of the year with a perfect final inning. West Florida will be hosting the University of Tampa in the Super Regional next Thursday through Saturday.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"It was a tough ending to a great season. I'm proud of this team and what we were able to accomplish. We just didn't get a big hit when we needed it today. I thought Cody threw great, and Bratcher kept it a 2-0 ballgame.
"We've got a young team (only two seniors) and I'm excited about the future. It's been an honor to coach Luke and JJ. They both are outstanding players, students, and people and I appreciate their loyalty to our program."
