Box Score Rocky Mount, NC - Piedmont Baseball went the distance in day one of the USA South Tournament with a 9-1 victory over LaGrange College. The #5-seeded Lions gave the lead away early but rebounded to score nine unanswered runs against the Panthers.
After giving up a single run in the bottom of the first, the Lions came out swinging in the third.
Tim Nunez had his first single of the day and made it to third after
Matt Youtsey walked and
Keith Grabowski singled to center. Senior
Tate Koons sacrifice-flied to score the tying run.
Josh Bailey was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch and erratic fielding by the Panthers gave Piedmont just the opportunity to score two runs and take the lead for the rest of the day.
In the fourth inning,
Michael Barnes scored from third on a Youtsey sac-fly. Nunez had the only other hit of the inning. Three Lion hits in the fifth brought another run in to increase the margin to 5-1. Runs in the seventh and eighth for Piedmont included a RBI sac-bunt by
Breck Davidson and a fielding error that brought in Nunez.
A double by
Josh Bailey in the ninth was followed by a Kevin D'Antignac single. Barnes' RBI sac-fly scored Bailey from third and
Austin Brick singled to put D'Antignac on third.
Tim Nunez RBI-singled to bring in the final run of the day. Nunez led the Lions scoring, going a clean 5-5 from the batter's box.
Defensively, the Lions were strong all game. Starting in the bottom of the fifth, Senior
Kevin Caldwell made it 14 batters until the bottom of the 9th having not given up a single hit. He ended up with 4 strikeouts in his complete game, giving up just seven hits.
With the win, Piedmont moves forward in the winner's bracket to face #1 seed Christopher Newport University tomorrow at 10:00 am. The Lions are 1-2 against the Captains this season after taking game three in Newport News, VA earlier in the season. Tomorrow's game will be played at Five County Stadium.
USA South Baseball Tournament Website
Five County Stadium
1501 North Carolina 39
Zebulon, North Carolina
