Box Score

Demorest, GA - It took extra baseball, but a 10th inning single through the left side of the infield by Tim Nunez scored freshman Brad Stinson for the walkoff 3-2 win for the Lions over visiting Covenant College.  Piedmont rallied from two down in the sixth to tie, and despite missing opportunities to take a lead in the latter innings, the pitching forced extra innings and the Lions didn't disappoint the home crowd.

The Scots had their offense and pitching in full swing, nearly taking down No. 5 Piedmont in the Lions' Great South Athletic Conference opener Thursday night at Loudermilk Field.  Newly-named conference pitcher of the week Kevin Caldwell was touched for two early runs, one earned, and lasted eight innings.  The junior was tagged for six hits and a walk, while also drilling a hitter and striking out five.  Back-to-back doubles in the first got the visiting Scots on the board before they tagged their second run in the second frame.

The Lions threatened in the first two innings as well, but hit into a double play in the first inning with runners on the corners and had a runner caught in a rundown between third and home in the second stanza.  After the junior Nunez reached on an infield hit with one away in the home half of the second, senior Ethan Miers doubled down the right field line to put the tying runs aboard with just one out.  However, junior Matt Youtsey tapped a pitch back to the mound and Nunez was caught a quarter way down the line.  He was tagged by the third baseman trying to get back.

Covenant's ace pitcher was solid, going seven strong innings while allowing five hits and two walks, fanning six Lions in the stellar outing.  Caldwell was aided with a pair of double play balls up the middle in the second and fourth innings, and also started his own in the third when snaring a liner back to the mound and catching the runner off first.

It was Miers who came up with the first big hit of the evening, a two-out, two-run, game-tying double to left that erased a 2-0 deficit.  The Lions came up with some two-out magic in the sixth with no runners on base.  Junior James Moyer walked and advanced to third on a single by Nunez before Miers roped his game-changing second double of the night to tie the game at two.

Caldwell pitched deep into the game and settled into a groove, but the defense behind him was equally spectacular, notably Nunez.  In the seventh, Covenant led off with a baserunner who reached on an error.  He advanced into scoring position with two outs, bringing up the ninth-place hitter, who slapped a shot toward shallow right center.  Nunez laid out parallel to the ground in the outfield grass, and extended to make a sensational diving catch to end the inning and save the go-ahead run from crossing the plate.

Curtis Cornett led off the eighth with a double down the line in left, but was left stranded when Covenant's lefty relief pitcher sent the next three Lions down on strikes.  Senior Ed Cook worked a scoreless ninth for the host team, working around a one-out single when Nunez and Youtsey turned a double play to send the game into the final half-inning of regulation.  The Lions once more had a chance to get the winning run in with runners on second and third with just one out, but again Covenant's lefty got out of a jam, sending the game into extras for the first time this season.

After Cook mowed down the bottom of the lineup in the top of the 10th, striking out the side, Piedmont again built up the moment for the game-winning hit.  Cornett reached on a throwing error to start the inning, advancing all the way to second.  The momentum quickly died down when he was thrown out at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt.  However, a grounder to short got pinch runner Stinson into scoring position, bringing up Nunez with two outs.  The second baseman smacked a hard grounder through the left side.  Stinson was waved home and the throw from left sailed high to the plate as teammates celebrated with Nunez and Stinson.

Cook was rewarded with his second win of the season after two scoreless innings, as the Lions move to 17-5 and 1-0 to start GSAC play.  Nunez led the team with three hits, while Miers' two doubles were huge as well.  The team tallied seven hits on the night.  Piedmont's originally-scheduled game with Covenant tomorrow has been pushed to Saturday as part of a double-header, with times to be announced.