Montgomery, Ala. – The Lee University Flames avoided elimination from postseason play as they defeated conference rival AUM 10-3 in the second round of the NAIA Region XIII Tournament Thursday night.

B.J. Church struck out 11and scattered three runs and nine hits over eight innings pitched to lead the Flames (41-17).  Jarod Cook took the loss for AUM (43-16).

Tony Perez went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored to spark the Lee offense.  Britt Clayton led the Senators by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. 

Lee began the game by scoring a run in each of the first two innings.  AUM tied the game in the third after Michael Herndon blasted a two-run home run over the centerfield fence.  The Flames retook the lead in the fourth inning, and then added two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to push the lead to 8-2.  AUM scored another run in the sixth, but was unable to score again.  Lee capped their offensive explosion with two more runs in the ninth. 

AUM faces Belhaven at noon tomorrow in an elimination game at the AUM Baseball Complex, while Lee will face another SSAC foe in Georgia Southwestern at 3:30.

--AUM--