The Lee baseball team dropped a pair of one-run decisions to visiting Valdosta State University on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Larry Carpenter Stadium. The Blazers won the first game 8-7 and held on to claim the nightcap 4-3. The final game of the GSC series is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Game 1
The Flames jumped on top 3-0 in the fourth inning. Dylan Standifer singled and scored on a two-run homer by Jared Demkowicz. With two outs, Jake Edwards singled and Joshua Perez advanced to second.
He scored on a double by Nate Bynum.
Valdosta cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth and then jumped on top with three runs in the sixth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Lee cut the margin to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth. The visitors added two more runs in the eighth and were on top 7-4 before Lee rallied again with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Bynum singled, Matthew Batts had an RBI double and Standifer an RBI one-base hit in the inning.
Valdosta added an insurance run to go up 8-6 in the top of the ninth inning. Lee rallied in the bottom of the ninth. Luke Hughes started the inning with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an infield hit by Edwards. The rally ended on a couple of fly-outs.
Standifer and Edwards had three hits apiece. Bynum joined Demkowicz with a pair of RBI. Perez doubled and was the only Flame to score twice in the loss. Lee was guilty of three costly errors. Miguel Alba started and pitched five innings. He allowed four hits and no earned runs, striking out eight and walking three.
Brycen Jewell was the losing hurler. In 0.1 innings he allowed four hits and three earned runs. Sam Fulton came on for a pair of innings. He surrendered three hits and no earned runs. Sean Casteel, Jax Howard and Hunter Lane followed Jewell to the mound. Howard was the only pitcher of the last four to allow an earned run.
Luke Ard had three hits and two RBI for the Blazers. David Crawford followed with two hits. Bryson Gandy and Jacob Harper doubled. Harper scored a pair of runs and Jose Crisostomo Bock came on in a pinch-hitting role and knocked in two runs with a base hit in the sixth inning. Elijah Gill was the starting and winning pitcher. In five innings he allowed 10 hits and four earned runs. Scott Curran pitched the final two innings and picked up the save.
Game 2
Valdosta State scored two runs in the first inning and two more runs in the second and then held on for a 4-3 win over the Flames. JJ Finn pitched four innings and allowed six hits and an earned run. Adrian Garrastazu was the final of four pitchers for the visitors. In two innings, he allowed just one hit and picked up the save. Finn improved to 3-0 on the year.
Ryan Romano had a hit and scored two runs for Valdosta State. Ard followed with a hit, an RBI and scored while David Crawford also had a hit and RBI. The visitors made the best of only five hits and Jisjar Clotida had the other RBI with a one-base knock.
Lee cut the lead to 4-1 with a single run in the fifth inning and then made it a one-run game with two more runs in the sixth. Batts singled and Riley Majano was hit by a pitch. Bynum reached on a fielder’s choice and Batts scored on a ground-out. Thomas Zazzaro singled to score Bynum and a fly ball ended the inning.
Zazzaro was a perfect 3-of-3, including a double and an RBI for the Flames. Standifer continued his fine hitting with a pair of one-base hits and an RBI. No other Flame had more than one hit, but Bynum scored two runs, drove in a run, and collected an RBI with his single. Batts also had a one-base hit and scored.
Jack Nedrow (2-2) went the entire seven innings and took the loss. He allowed five hits, three earned runs, fanned eight and walked two.
With the sweep Valdosta improves to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play. Lee drops to 8-6 and 2-3.