Excellent pitching and solid hitting lifted Lee to an important three-game sweep over Southern Polytechnic State University. After handing the Hornets a 16-1 defeat on Thursday, the Flames came back with back-to-back 6-0 wins on Friday and improved to 26-7 overall and 15-3 in league play.

Senior Jose Samayoa hurled the complete seven innings and gave up only two hits in the opening 6-0 win. Samayoa struck out three and walked only one batter.

Lee jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning with a single run and then increased the lead to 3-0 with scores in the third and fourth and put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth.

Derrick Pitts had a pair of single and drove in two runs for the Flames. Danny Canela banged out three hits and Brady Renner ripped a solo homer over the right-field wall.

Josh Silver and Corey Davis had a hit and a RBI. Brandon Rader also singled and scored a run, while Mark Silva rounded out the 10-hit attack with a single.

Nick Blount was the starting and losing pitcher for the Hornets. In five innings, he allowed eight hits, two earned runs, struck out eight and walked one.

Clint Terry worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit in posting his fourth win of the year against only one defeat. He struck out seven and walked four. Jeremy Stawychny came on and pitched a solid 1 1/3 innings. He allowed one walk and no hits. Keegan Yuhl and Andy Hillis pitched the final two innings in the second straight 6-0 win.

The Flames had 12 hits and took the lead for good in the bottom of the second inning when Pitts delivered a homer over the right-field fence.

The lead increased to 3-0 in the fourth inning when Davis doubled and Chris Avey and Rader ripped back-to-back RBI triples.

Davis collected another RBI in the fifth inning when he singled home Pitts, who had walked and stole second.

The final two runs came in the eighth. Renner started the rally with a single. Silver doubled and Cameron Brewster pushed both runners across the plate with a solid single to right.

Davis finished the contest with three hits, while Renner and Silver had two knocks apiece.

The Hornets (20-9, 9-6) got a single and a double from Dalton Martinez and Reggie Weatherford. Zach Smith was the losing Hornet hurler. He pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits, four earned runs, fanned six and walked three. Jordan Egan hurled the final 3 1/3 innings.

"Our pitching was excellent the entire series and we did not allow an earned run over 25 innings," said coach Mark Brew. "We've come to expect that from our pitching, but it was the consistent hitting of this team that I was most pleased with in this series. We swung the bat well up and down the order and that's what we've been looking for."

All totaled, the Flames had 39 hits in three games. "The way this club performed in this series was something we haven't seen the entire year, but I like it," he commented. "We had a little mental lapse in one inning but Stawychny came on to bail us out of that situation. Southern Poly is a good team and it took this type of effort to produce three wins."

The Flames will return to non-conference action on Wednesday at 3 p.m. traveling to Athens to face rival Tennessee Wesleyan.

"We are playing them three times and it is good for both our teams," Brew added. "Wesleyan has an outstanding pitching staff and we know it will be another tough game." The Bulldogs came from behind in the late innings to edge the Flames in the first meeting.