OXFORD, Ala. – Evan Bloomer picked up his ninth straight win of the year while Braden Gabel, Nate Caraballo, Luke Collier and Isaiah French led Lee's 13-hit attack as they defeated Delta State University 9-3 to improve their record to 35-15 in the opening round of the Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship on Saturday evening at Choccolocco Park. The Flames advanced to face Mississippi College on Sunday at 7 p.m. The Choctaws were beaten by West Florida earlier on Saturday.
Lee jumped out on top 5-0 in the second inning by sending nine men to the plate. Caraballo began the big frame with a walk. JJ Williams followed with a single and both Caraballo and Williams advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Gabel drove in one run with a one-base hit. The inning continued when Aiden McClary singled to load the bases, and Collier picked up an RBI with a free pass. French produced the big blow of the inning with a double that plated McClary and Collier.
Caraballo had a two-base hit in the third and scored as Gabel struck again with an RBI one-base knock to score Caraballo to make it 6-0 contest. The Statesmen cut the lead to 6-1 in the fourth and the Flames did not score again until the sixth inning. Collier got the uprising started with his first hit of the game. He stole second and scored on a single by French making it a 7-1 game.
Caraballo made it a perfect 3-of-3 evening when he laced a one-base hit to begin the seventh. Williams followed with his second hit of the affair and the Flames played small ball as Ryan Valdes moved up the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt and Caraballo scored to make it an 8-1 game with a sacrifice RBI fly ball to right.
Delta State fought back with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 8-3. Lee added its final run in a big way in the top of the ninth when Collier ripped a long home run over the left-centerfield wall.
Gabel drove in three runs with two hits and scored a run. Collier tallied two hits and scored three times. French and Williams joined in with two hits each.
Bloomer worked eight innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run. He struck out eight and walked one. Mason Bratcher came on and worked a perfect ninth inning.
Walter Maranto drove in two of the three runs for the Statesmen. He also scored a run. Tucker Jones tripled and tallied the other two Delta State runs. Blake King was the starting and losing Statesmen pitcher. He pitched 1.1 innings and gave up five earned runs. Gavin McCoy labored for the next 5.2 frames and surrendered 10 hits and three earned runs.
Coach Mark Brew's thoughts:
"It was a great opening day win for the team. Bloomer continues to provide great pitching, and Bratcher looked sharp out of the pen. Caraballo, Gabel and Collier had great nights at the plate, and we did an excellent job of extending the lead late.
"It's another big night tomorrow against MC and we need to keep the execution up."
