Lee University baseball lit up the scoreboard in a 16-2 romp over host Tusculum University on Tuesday evening. The victory improved the Flames record to 17-14 while the Pioneers dropped to 10-20. Lee will return to conference action on Friday and Saturday hosting the University of Montevallo in a big three-game series. Friday’s action is slated for 5 p.m.
The Flames banged out 19 hits and scored in all but two innings. Ten different Lee players placed their names in the hit category and five had extra base hits.
JJ Williams led the way with a perfect 5-of-5 evening, including two homeruns, six runs scored and four RBI.
Isaiah French collected three hits and drove in four runners while adding a run. Luke Collier, Tucker Platt and Josiah Miller had a pair of hits each. Collier doubled, tripled and crossed home plate once. Platt added two RBI and scored a run while Miller tallied two runs.
Malachi Cloud came on late and ripped a triple and posted two RBI. Ryan Valdes continued to collect extra base hits with a two-base knock. Brock Sisson joined Malachi as a pinch hitter and delivered a single that plated three runs. Gavin Baxter displayed his role as a pinch hitter collecting a one-base hit and scoring a run.
While the hitters were doing plenty of damage, Coach Mark Brew was sending seven different pitchers to the mound. Jax Howard saw his first action in a while and worked the initial inning. Zach Lawson (1-2) followed for two frames and picked up the win. He allowed one run. Matthew Delph gave up the other Pioneer run in his inning of work. David White hurled a solid inning. Ty Cobb was impressive, going to the bump for two innings, allowing no runs and fanning three. Evan Bloomer and Braylon Hall came on to pitch the eighth and ninth innings.
All totaled Tusculum was able to collect eight hits. Ty Smith was the only Pioneer with two hits while Caleb Mulcahy and Jack Gagen knocked in one run apiece. Tusculum also used seven pitchers. Brice Anders (1-6) started and pitched two innings. He was charged with the loss.