Box Score

Demorest, GA - Piedmont's red-hot pitching continued while the offense gave Max Oberkofler all the offense he'd need in a 9-1 blowout win over Guilford College Thursday afternoon at Loudermilk Field.  The No. 10 Lions poured on six runs in the opening frame, forcing the Quakers' starting pitcher to an early exit.  Meanwhile, the freshman Oberkofler was lights out, going seven shutout innings while picking up his first win of the 2012 campaign.

The offense recorded seven extra-base hits, including a triple by junior Matt Youtsey.  But it was junior Garrett Lovelace who muscled up with the first big hit.  After sophomore Josh Bailey singled with one away in the home half of the first, senior Curtis Cornett doubled to put both he and Bailey in scoring position for the designated hitter.  Lovelace connected with his team-best fifth double of the season to give PC an early 2-0 lead.  With two outs, senior Ethan Miers laced a single to bring in Lovelace and make it 3-0.

Miers and junior Tim Nunez, who had walked ahead of him, advanced to second and third on a wild pitch as Youtsey was at the plate.  The shortstop got ahold of a good pitch and ended up on third with a two-run, two-out triple as the host team found themselves up 5-0 still in the first.  Junior Tate Koons capped off the wild inning with an RBI double that scored Youtsey before the Quakers were forced to go to the bullpen in order to get the final out of the frame.  The Guilford starter recorded just 0.2 innings, allowing all six earned runs on six hits and a walk.

The big blow of the game came on one swing from Cornett, who belted a solo homer an inning later, his first of the season, to make it 7-0 Lions.  Davis brought in the men's eighth run in the third inning with a base hit that scored Koons from second.  Backed by an 8-0 lead, Oberkofler rarely ran into trouble, save the Guilford sixth inning.  The Quakers drew a walk after a leadoff single to put two on and no one out.  However, the freshman induced two fly outs before striking out the number five hitter.  He polished off his performance with a perfect seventh stanza, striking out two.

The Lions brought in a slew of pinch hitters in the eighth, and two freshman subs paid dividends, as Casey Parham and Tucker Ehmig knocked back-to-back doubles to give Piedmont a 9-0 lead.  The hit by Parham was his first collegiate hit and Ehmig's second.  Piedmont was two outs shy of its second shutout of the year before Guilford spoiled the attempt with a sacrifice fly to center that plated the leadoff man, who got aboard on a single and worked his way to third on a wild pitch and groundout.

Freshman Luke MacDonald went the final two innings, allowing just one run on one hit.  Oberkofler's final line shows seven innings, no runs on three hits and three walks, combined with five strikeouts.  Cornett finished 2-for-4, as did Miers.  Lovelace and Youtsey both drove in a pair of runs, as the former now leads the team with 16 RBI on the year.  The team totaled 11 hits on the afternoon.  The Lions are now 12-3 overall and are set for a much-anticipated two-game set with No. 1 Marietta College, beginning tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Loudermilk Field.  Game two comes Saturday at 3:00 pm.