Down to their final three outs of the season, the Lee Flames baseball team staged a dramatic ninth inning comeback, scoring three runs to defeat Missouri Baptist University, 4-3, Saturday evening at Olympic Field.
Lee (53-9-1) advanced to Saturday evening’s contest with a 13-0 win over Avila University (Mo.), in the afternoon game. The Flames and Missouri Baptist will now return for a winner-take-all championship, Monday at 1 p.m., for a trip to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.
Game 2: Flames 4, Spartans 3
Lee struggled to get to Missouri Baptist starter Julien Soucy (6-3) the entire evening, scratching just a single run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly scoring Trevor Burgess, following a triple. After loading the bases in the ninth, the Spartans went to the bullpen, but to no avail as the Flames hit a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly by Jorge Saez to score the winning run.
Matt Passauer was the solid on the mound for the Flames, throwing 3 2/3 innings of no-hit relief to keep the Flames in the contest. The senior moves to 2-0 with the shut-down performance. Burgess and Edmanuel Rivera each had a pair of hits in the win, as the Flames totaled eight. Rivera tallied a pair of RBI, with Burgess scoring once and knocking in one run.
For the Spartans (39-15), Kyle Hardy earned a pair of hits, scoring once.
Game 1: Flames 13, Eagles 0
Spilker worked eight innings to move to 7-2 on the season, including working 6 1/3 perfect innings to start the contest. The junior allowed no runs on one hit, striking out six and walking two.
11 different Lee batters contributed at least one hit, led by a 4-for-5 performance by Corey Davis. Davis drilled a double, scored three times, had two RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Burgess turned in a three-hit performance, adding a run scored and a run batted in.
Saez, Blake Barber, Mike Moore, and Roberto Duran round out the multi-hit games for the Flames, all earning a pair of hits, with Saez, Moore, and Duran each scoring twice. Moore and Rivera each had two runs batted in.
Matt Ricketts had the lone hit for Avila, grounding a ball through the hole at second base. Tyler Osborne fell to 0-2 after allowing 10 runs on 14 hits in 4 2/3 innings. The Eagles are eliminated from the tournament with an overall record of 41-16.
Story courtesy of host school, Lee University.
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