Box Score See Davidson's 2RBI HR on Youtube!

Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College baseball team came out on the good end of a wild one Friday night at Loudermilk Field winning 18-11 over visiting Huntingdon College in a key USA South matchup.  The win comes in the first of a three-game set at Loudermilk over the weekend with the Hawks as the two are set to continue the series with game two tomorrow after with a 3:00 pm first pitch.

The Lions pounced late on the Hawks using a 9-run 8th inning to overtake the visitors as PC scored nearly every way possible in the inning taking advantage of four hits, an error, two wild pitches, a hit-by-pitch, and six walks including two with the bases loaded. Piedmont went into the bottom of the 8th trailing 11-9 though first baseman Breck Davidson quickly erased that deficit when he drilled a two-run homer over the scoreboard in left center that may still have not landed at this point.

Piedmont twice fell behind by five runs as the Lions gave up two in the first and three in the second to trail HC 5-0 heading into the bottom of the second.  However, a three-spot in the Piedmont 2nd would help to cut into the lead as Will Skidmore picked up the first of his six RBIs on the night, one shy of the NCAA era program record for a single game.

Single runs in the Piedmont 3rd and 4th tied the game at 5-5 as Evan Gresham singled in a run first before Josh Bailey would pick up a bases loaded walk to drive in a run.  Bailey would go on to walk four times on the night tying the single-game program record as he continues to pace the USA South in base on balls with his 21 drawn in 2014.  Bailey ranked 2nd in the nation in that category coming into the week sitting behind only Daniel Iturrey of in-state rival Emory with his 19.

Despite tying the game at 5's through four innings after the run in the bottom of the 4th, the Lions would go down by five once again as they gave up five in the top 5th with Huntingdon taking a 10-5 lead and a 5-run advantage for the second time on the night.  However, no seats emptied at Loudermilk and fans would be thankful they stuck around as they would be in for a treat as Piedmont quickly chopped into the lead with a three-spot in the home half of the 5th.

All three of those scores came on a bases clearing double by Will Skidmore who had a career night at Loudermilk as his 3-RBI hit helped put PC down by just two after five. A Piedmont score in the bottom of the 7th on another Skidmore basehit made the margin just one run as there was no give up in the Lions Friday evening.

Huntingdon scored in the top of the 8th to make it 11-9 heading into the bottom of the inning, but a two-run deficit was erased quickly by Piedmont in the inning as Breck Davidson followed up a Josh Bailey one-out walk by belting a Huntingdon pitch over the fence in left.  No doubt existed in any fan's mind when Davidson made contact that the ball would staying in the park as his long-distance drive ignited the Piedmont dugout and lineup as the Lions lit up the scoreboard in a multiple of ways going on to score seven more runs to take an 18-11 lead after eight complete.

The top of the 9th belonged to Piedmont pitcher Matt Stephens as the crowd favorite retired the side in order getting the final batter of the night on a swinging strike as he skipped off the mound and towards his teammates cascading out of the dugout after a big-time 7-run win that came on a late inning rally for the Lions.

The win went to Piedmont's Allen Tokarz who threw four innings in relief of starter Matt Lisk.  Tokarz allowed just four hits and a single run though that came on a Piedmont error as Tokarz has still yet to allowed an earned run in 2014.  Tokarz moves to 3-0 on the season with the win while the loss went to Huntingdon's Dalton Dalrymple. 

Leaders at the plate included too many to name as Evan Gresham was the best on average going an incredible five for six with three runs scored and two RBIs.  Gresham also extended his current hitting streak to eight games, a season high for the Piedmont outfielder, as four different Lions are riding hitting streaks of six games or more.

Skidmore went two of four with a run scored and a walk as he accounted for a half dozen RBIs while Breck Davidson made his only hit count going yard for the second time this season.

Bailey also made waves with his four walks drawn as he passed the national leader in walks with his four on the night pushing him to 21 on the season.  The senior outfielder went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI as well.

Piedmont moves to 13-6 on the season with the win, but more importantly steps up to 6-4 in league play recovering from last weekend's three-game sweep at Covenant College. The Lions sit in 5th place currently in the league standings behind leader Huntingdon, Ferrum, Methodist and Covenant.

The Lions get back on the diamond when they host the Hawks for game two of the series at Loudermilk Field tomorrow afternoon.  First pitch is set for 3:00 pm in Demorest, and the game will be carried live on the Mane Event Broadcasting Network which features integrated live stats with a live video feed as well.