LYNCHBURG, Va. ? The Presbyterian College baseball
team jumped on top 2-0 early against Liberty, but lost a shoot-out Sunday
afternoon by a 14-7 score.
The Blue
Hose now stand at 4-18 on the season and 1-10 in Big South Conference play.
Leading the
way for head coach Elton Pollock's team was Cory Lyda, who notched a pair of
hits to go along with three RBI. Andrew Williams also had two hits and a pair
of RBI while Zac Rhinesmith and Mack Hite each had one RBI.
Jesse Harmon
tallied a team-high three hits in five at bats while scoring a run. Lyda was
driven in twice while Kenny Bryant, Jared Combs, Tony Micklon and Gabe Grammer
each crossed home plate once.
Harmon led
off the game with a triple down the left field line and scored when Hite beat
out an infield single. With one out in the first, Lyda launched a solo shot to
straight away center field for a 2-0 advantage.
In the
bottom of the first, the Flames cut the deficit to one. The score remained the
same until the bottom of the third inning when Liberty scored five runs. The home team
tied the game at 2-2, but then went ahead 6-2 on a grand slam by Tyler Bream.
PC made the
game 6-3 in the fourth when Rhinesmith's single
to left plated Micklon, who had reached earlier on a double.
Pollock's
team continued slicing away at the deficit, plating another run in the fifth.
Lyda reached on a fielder's choice that scored Grammer, who had started the
frame by reaching on a fielding error by the third baseman.
However,
the Flames put another five spot on the board in the bottom of the fifth and
two more in the seventh, making the score 11-4 in favor of the home team.
Liberty plated two more runs in the sixth,
but the Blue Hose would not quit. Lyda homered to get things going. After
Bryant and Combs each singled and Matt Hill walked, Williams singled home two,
totaling the seventh run for PC.
Will
Freeman took the loss after throwing 4.2 innings. He gave up 11 runs on eight
hits. Andrew Foushee came in, throwing an inning and giving up two runs on five
hits. Chris Powell tossed 2.1 innings of work and gave up one run without
giving up a hit.
For the
game, PC tallied seven runs on 14 hits. The squad also left eight runners on
base.
The Blue
Hose return to action Tuesday when they step out of conference to host USC
Upstate at 3 p.m.
