MONTGOMERY, Ala. -  No. 18 Auburn Montgomery erupted for seven runs in the top of the third inning and held on to beat No. 3 Lee 10- Sunday afternoon to capture the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament championship.

    The Senators, 41-19, gained a measure of revenge against the Flames, who had handed AUM its only loss in the tournament Saturday morning. Both AUM and Lee, along with Southern Poly, are assured of bids to the NAIA Region XIII tournament in Cleveland, Tenn., beginning May 6. Southern Wesleyan still has a chance to receive an at-large bid to the six-team tournament.

     The Flames, 53-7, took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a bases-loaded walk to Chris Dubon. The lead stood until the third, when the Senators sent 12 men to the plate. Tournament most valuable player Chase Burch tied the game at 1 with a sacrifice fly. Matt Dunaway's run-scoring double gave AUM the lead, and Daniel Jones followed with a two-run double of his own to push the lead to 4-1. R.J. McVoy and Cody Shields also had RBI singles in the inning.

     The lead was 8-1 heading to the bottom of the sixth when Lee made things interesting. Two costly Senator errros, combined with runs-scoring hits from Lee's Josh Guy and Jeremy Hutslar, resulted in a five-run rally to bring the Flames to within 8-6.

     It stayed that way until the eighth, when Burch reignited the AUM attack with a solo home run to dead centerfield - his fourth homer and 16th RBI of the tournament. The Senators tacked on another run in the inning for a little more breathing room.

     Lee scored a single run in the bottom of the ninth, but could get no closer against AUM reliever Jeremy Ponder, who pitched three-plus innings of effective relief. Justin Barrett earned his second victory of the tournament for AUM, allowing four runs in five-plus innings of work. Lee starter Ryan Stovall took the loss.

     Joining Burch on the all-tournament team were three of his teammates - Ponder, Barrett and Cody Shields, who led the Senators with three hits on Sunday. Lee's Hutslar, Clint Harrelson, Edgar Mercado and Ryan Stovall also made the team, as did Faulkner's Kevin Leslie and Southern Wesleyan's Kody Hightower and Jeff England.