Behind an outstanding starting performance from sophomore Matt Burgess the Piedmont College baseball team defeated visiting Great South Athletic Conference opponent LaGrange College tonight at Loudermilk Field by the score of 5-2. Burgess allowed only one earned run in eight plus innings of work and notched his third conference victory of the season.

The Lions jumped on the board in the first inning when Cole Spedale singles with one out and Andy House notched his second homerun of the season to go up 2-0. Two innings later the Lions scored a pair of runs again on three singles from Spedale, House and an RBI basehit from Matt Devito. LaGrange capitilized on Piedmont's only error of the night to plate a run in the sixth to bring the score to 4-1.

Travis Hunt came up big in the eighth with an RBI single plating Luke Dombrowsky for an insurance run. LaGrange rallied in the ninth but could only manage one run and dropped the three-run decision.

Offensively Spedale went 2-3 with two runs scored while House chipped in going 2-4 with a pair of RBI's. Tom Dimitroff picked up his fourth save of the season in relief of Burgess in the ninth inning.

The victory moves the Lions to 18-20 overall and 4-3 in the Great South Athletic Conference. These two teams will meet for game two of the three game series again tomorrow, April 21st at Loudermilk Field with first pitch slated for 3:00.