Box Score Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College baseball team broke a 2-2 tie late in this afternoon's USA South contest against Maryville College earlier today at Loudmermilk Field getting a run in the bottom of the 8th to take the decision.  PC got a sac fly from Daniel Lindsey to pick up the win as he drove a Scot offering deep to right to get pinch runner Casey Parham home as the Lions will now look for the sweep tomorrow in the series finale, first pitch set for 2:00 pm.

Piedmont starter Preston Graham saw trouble early on Saturday as the Scots got back-to-back singles in the second with one out before the young Lions pitcher settled to retire the next two batters he faced. Graham found himself in trouble again in the third after a one-out walk loaded the bases for visiting Maryville with the five-hole hitter Nick Dean coming up to the plate.  

On a full count, Graham was able to strike out Dean though to pick up out #2 in the frame before running another count full against the next Scot, catcher Travis Scates.  

Unable to find the plate this time around with his 3-2 offering drifting outside against the righty Scates, Piedmont walked in the first run of the game with Maryville taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the third.  A grounder to third ended the threat, but the Scots had struck first in game two with the run as Graham's day would be cut short after just three innings of the work with four hits allowed and one run given up.

PC was sat down in order in the bottom of the third, the second time Maryville starter Matt Dyer had done so to that point in the game as he would go on to toss eight complete giving up three runs on 12 hits. Piedmont doubled up Maryville in the hit department with its dozen compared to six for the visitors on the day.

Despite the lack of early offense, reliever Allen Tokarz came in to pitch effectively against the Scots who had made noise early on.  Tokarz allowed just two hits in his five innings of the work while collecting five strikeouts and walking two.

Tokarz would be in line for the win as the home team would pick up some offense they were looking for in the 5th as Daniel Lindsey drove one in on his single which followed up an Evan Gresham double.  The Piedmont right fielder was a perfect 4-for-4 on the day with a run scored as Gresham scored on the Lindsey RBI base knock to make it a 1-1 game before Piedmont took advantage of a Maryville error to score the second of two runs in the inning for a 2-1 lead after four.

Maryville responded in the 5th with David Shiplett picking up the RBI single to even things back up at 2's.  It would be the only run allowed by Tokarz though it was unearned after an error earlier in the inning.  The sophomore pitcher leads the Lions with his 1.65 ERA on the season after today.

The scoreboard stayed quiet until the Piedmont 8th as the Lions looked to capitalize on a Breck Davidson double which led off the inning.  Davidson's two-bagger was his 11th of the season, second most on the team behind Keith Grabowski's dozen.

Pinch runner Casey Parham came in to run for the big slugger now standing at second and would be moved across on the next at-bat after Gresham laid down an infield single putting runners on the corners for Lindsey who already had an RBI on the day.

Lindsey did the job once again connecting on a Maryville pitch well enough to drive it deep to right as the Scots had no play on the speedy Parham who tagged and came across standing up for a 3-2 lead.  The Lions stranded two in the inning, but got the only run they would need as Josh Thomas was called in from the pen in left to work the 9th as he sat down the side in order with a pair of grounders to the middle infield before getting a swinging strikeout to end the game.

For Thomas, the save is his first in 2014 while the win goes to Tokarz who goes to now 5-1 on the season.  The loss goes to Maryville's Matt Dyer who drops to 3-4 now on the year.

Gresham was PC's leader at the plate with his 4-of-4 showing as he scored a run as well.  Lindsey was two for three with a pair of RBIs and a run scored while Barnes was two for four with an RBI.

Piedmont moves to 24-14 overall with the win and is now 16-10 in conference play as they wrap up the regular season with a Sunday afternoon showdown tomorrow at Loudermilk starting at 2:00 pm.  PC looks for the sweep with a win, and coverage will be provided courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network which features a live video feed with integrated live stats in a showcase format through Sidearm Sports.