The Lee University Flames baseball team finished a three-game, weekend sweep over visiting Talladega College, Saturday, squeezing out a 2-1 win over the visiting Tornadoes. Mike Moore’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Flames their first walk-off win of the young season.

For the weekend, the Flames went 3-0, outscoring the visitors by a mark of 20-4, though 10 of those runs came in the fifth inning of game one.

“Overall, for the weekend, it was a good start to the season,” said Lee head coach Mark Brew. “I thought we pitched extremely well and our defense was very solid. We did a lot of positive things, but our hitting struggled and that should come around with more repetitions.”

Moore’s sac fly in Saturday’s finale was set up by a one-out triple by Blake Barber. After an intentional walk to Roberto Reyes, Moore stepped up and hit a fly ball deep enough in right field to score Barber from third.

The Flames opened the scoring in the third inning, as Brady Renner reached on a walk, stole second base, and scored on a fielding error by Talladega right fielder, Aldris Castillo.

Lee kept the Talladega (0-3) bats at bay until the top of the eighth inning, as Castillo grounded out, scoring pinch runner Chris Castillo. (Chris) Castillo was running for pinch hitter, Kameron Mizzell, who reached on a walk from Lee hurler Dustin Lawson.

Both squads had solid pitching performances, headlined by Lee starter Jose Samayoa. The Lee junior right-hander turned in an outstanding debut, working six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, both in the final inning of work. Samayoa completed the first 4 2/3 innings without allowing a single base runner, and finished the contest with five strikeouts and one walk.

Lawson came on to work two innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits, striking out one and walking one. Andy Hillis (1-0) was credited with the win after working a perfect ninth inning.

“Jose (Samayoa) was excellent today and was really in command from the start. Lawson and Hillis did an excellent job finishing in the bullpen for us,” added Brew.

Offensively, the Flames earned six total hits, each by a different player. Barber had the game’s only extra base hit, also reaching on a walk. He scored one run, had one run batted in, and stole one base. “Barber had a big weekend for us (6-for-11, three extra base hits), and that huge one-out triple in the ninth.”


Gabriel Viso started for Talladega, working six innings and allowing one unearned run. Ryan Pettus allowed no runs on two hits in 1 1/3 innings. James Rodriguez (0-1) received the loss, surrendering the winning run in his 1 1/3 innings of work.

“My hat is off to Talladega. They played us toe-to-toe throughout the weekend and we struggled to get any distance from them, with the exception of the one inning in game one of the series,” concluded Brew.

The Tornadoes had one-hit contributions from four players, and all totaled left five runners on base. As was the case Friday night, the Flames struggled with runners in scoring position, leaving 13 runners on base in the contest.

The Flames will return to Olympic Field, Monday and Tuesday, for 3 p.m. contests against Hiwassee College and Tennessee Temple University.