Lee broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the third inning and then tagged on four more runs in the fourth and score an opening round NAIA World Series victory over Point Park (Pa.), 9-3 on Saturday afternoon.
The win improved the Flames to 55-9-1 on the year, while Point Park dropped to 52-10. After a Sunday break, the Flames will return to action and face a very good and third-seeded Oklahoma City team on Monday at 9:30 EDT.
Kris Hall improved his pitching record to 12-0 and worked 5 1/3 innings before running into control problems in the fifth.
Joe Fabre came in to bail the Flames out and in 1 2/3 innings allowed only one hit, struck out two and did not walk a Point Park hitter. Kyle Briner came on to work the eighth and Andy Hillis closed the deal in the ninth.
The Flames hurlers must have established some type of unofficial record when they sent nine Point Park hitters back to the dugout with bats still on their shoulders. In fact, nine of the 10 strikeouts of the day came by the way of call strike-three.
All totaled, the four Lee hurlers allowed the Pittsburg team six hits. On the other hand, the Flames banged out 11 hits and Point Park was guilty of two errors.
Brady Renner, Jorge Saez, Corey Davis, Mike Moore and Edmanuel Rivera paced the Lee hitting attack with two hits apiece. Saez had a pair of doubles and an RBI. Renner knocked in two runs and scored. Davis was the RBI leader with three and he also scored once. Not to be outdone, Moore had a pair of RBI and joined Rivera with a double. Roberto Reyes, Trevor Burgess and Rivera chalked up six of Lee's nine runs.
Nathan Spohn (8-1)was the starting and losing pitcher for Point Park. He was relieved by Horacio Acosta in the fourth and Isaiah Morris hurled the final four innings. Ozzie Alfronzo had three hits for the losers and Steve Dujka followed with two knocks.
"It's always good to get the first win out here," said coach Mark Brew. "I thought our guys stepped up well, especially in the early innings. Hall gave us what we needed for five solid innings. I was pleased with the way our relievers came in and did the job but they have been doing that all year. It was also good to see the bottom of our order come up with the timely hits. It will take that to advance deep into tournament play."