CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team braved a windy, rainy day at the PC Baseball Complex but could not overcome a strong pitching performance from the visiting Liberty Flames' Trey Lambert, falling 5-0 in the series opener.
PC moves to 10-16-1 overall and 3-4 in the Big South Conference while Liberty improves to 19-7 on the year and 6-1 in the Big South. The two teams meet on Saturday in Clinton at 2 p.m.
Lambert allowed only one hit in a complete game shutout against the Blue Hose, a double by Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) in the opening inning. The Flame improved to 6-1 with the victory.
PC starter Beau Dees (Blenheim, S.C.) delivered a solid outing for the Blue Hose but took the loss to move to 4-3. The junior lefthander threw 6.1 innings with three runs allowed on eight hits and three strikeouts.
The Blue Hose turned in one of its best scoring chances in the fourth innings. Two straight Liberty errors placed PC runners at second and third with nobody out. Two strikeouts and a pop fly, however, ended the home team's bid for a run.
Dees and the Blue Hose defense held Liberty at bay through the first four innings as a light drizzle turned into steady rain midway through the game. The Flames struck in the top of the first as a hit-by-pitch and a Ryan Seiz double set up an RBI groundout for Becker Sankey and the visitors led, 1-0.
Liberty added four more runs in the seventh. Seiz posted another RBI double before Dalton Britt drove in another run to make it a 3-0 lead. A sacrifice fly and another one-run single from Alex Close and Danny Grauer took the score to its eventual final, 5-0.
Paul Sanders (St. Simons Island, Ga.) pitched two shutout innings of relief after Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.) relieved Dees early in the seventh.
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Liberty............. 000 010 400 - 5 12 3 (19-7, 6-1 BSC)
Presbyterian College 000 000 000 - 0 1 1 (10-16-1, 3-4 BSC)
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Pitchers: Liberty - LAMBERT, Trey and . Presbyterian College - DEES, Beau;
WORTKOETTER, Ethan(7); SANDERS, Paul(8) and .
Win-LAMBERT, Trey(6-1) Loss-DEES, Beau(4-3) T-2:15 A-78
Weather: Light rain, overcast, mid-60s
