Alabama Huntsville put seven runs on the board in the first inning and then turned back a furious Lee comeback in claiming the rubber match of a three-game Gulf South series on Sunday afternoon at Olympic Field, 10-9. The Flames won the first two games of the series.
"Down 7-0 after the first inning and 8-0 after the second is not the position you want to find yourself in during any game,” said Lee coach Mark Brew after watching his team’s eight-game winning streak snapped. “I was really proud of our team’s fight and effort today.
We had a chance to win the game in the ninth and that's all you can ask for from your team under those circumstances. Huntsville was aggressive early and it worked out for them.”
Lee stands at 9-2 overall and Huntsville improves to 3-7. The Flames will travel to Young Harris, Ga. for a single nine-inning game on Wednesday before returning home to host Delta State in another three-game GSC series next Saturday and Sunday.
In Sunday’s win the Chargers posted 17 hits off four of five Lee hurlers. Justin Ware, Al Walden and Lance Cleveland had three hits apiece in the victory. Ware had two doubles and Walden one while Tanner Burns tripled. Ware and Cleveland walked away with a pair of RBI and Cleveland scored twice.
The Flames fought back with three hits from Spencer Mossburg, including a double. Jordan Howard added to his big weekend series with three more hits, a run scored and a RBI. Tyler Payne contributed two hits, scored twice and batted home a run.
Geremy Walton, Drew Johnson, Peyton Meeker, Miguel Pimentel and Cam Scott added to Lee’s 13-hit attack. Nate Wierzgac joined Scott and Payne in scoring twice.
Wes Albert was the starting and losing hurler for the Flames. In two-thirds of an inning he allowed seven hits and seven earned runs. Coach Brew came to the defense of his starter. “Wes did not pitch as bad as it would appear. He gave up lots of soft contact in that inning and any other day it might not turn out that way.”
The skipper went on to praise the work of two of his other hurlers. “I thought Michael Ray (who pitched three innings, allowing four hits and one earned run) and Rob Gustitus (who pitched three innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out five) really threw well today. They both settled us down and gave us a chance to rally.”
Brew said his club talked about winning Gulf South series and “we accomplished that goal this weekend. It's another big week with a road game to Young Harris and always powerful Delta State coming to town next weekend. We need to play much better defensively next week as we gave up too many freebies this weekend.”