SSAC News
Sun, Apr 29, 2007 - [Baseball]
MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Stephen Flake pitched Southern Polytech to the Southern States Athletic Conference baseball tournament as he led SPSU to a 6-4 win over the host team, Auburn University Montgomery Senators. Flake held the Senators to a season-low three hits, and only allowed the two runs. He struggled at times on the mound walking four, but the Senators could never get into a rhythm enough to take advantage of his wildness.
It was Flake’s second complete game of the series as he pitched a complete game in the Runnin’ Hornets opening game win back on Wednesday. He came back on three days of rest and held the Senators to seven hits and four runs while striking out six.
SPSU (45-16) started the scoring in the first inning as Ryan Pearson hit a three run home run scoring Joe Billick and Daniel Griffin who had earlier singled.
SPSU pushed their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second when Ryan Pearson hit a high fly to deep left field. AUM left fielder Matt Arrighi lost the ball in the sun for just an instant and the ball tipped off his glove allowing an unearned run to cross the plate.
AUM (47-11) came back in the top of the third to cut the lead in half. Michael Herndon and Davis Lambert had back to back singles. They moved up a base when Stephen Partrick was able to get a sacrifice down. Cortez Pearson then delivered a single into left center field scoring both runners.
SPSU scored single runs in the fourth and six innings on a Pearson RBI single and a Josh Grooms RBI single.
AUM made it interesting as they strung together three hits and scored two runs to once again cut the lead to two at 6-4. Cortez Pearson led off the inning with a solo home run, his sixth of the season. Junior Kelley then had an infield single and moved to third on a walk to Allen Ponder and then scored on a single from Matt Keel. After a walk to Bruce Alter, the Senators just missed out on taking the lead when Davis Lambert’s long fly ball was caught at the wall, just missing a grand slam home run.
After that, Flake (10-3) was able to retire the Senators in order in the ninth to hold on for the win.
Flake had a lot of help as the Runnin’ Hornets had 14 hits in the win. Griffin finished with four hits and Pearson had three hits and four RBI in the win.
For AUM, Pearson finished with two hits and three RBI. Five other players contributed with one hit each. Brett Bowen (4-1) picked up the loss. Like Flake, he came back to pitch on only three days rest, but could not get untracked as he pitched into the fourth inning allowing five runs on nine hits.
The two teams have now faced six times this season with each team winning three times. Both teams will now move on to the NAIA Region XIII tournament next week, where they may face each other again.
It was Flake’s second complete game of the series as he pitched a complete game in the Runnin’ Hornets opening game win back on Wednesday. He came back on three days of rest and held the Senators to seven hits and four runs while striking out six.
SPSU (45-16) started the scoring in the first inning as Ryan Pearson hit a three run home run scoring Joe Billick and Daniel Griffin who had earlier singled.
SPSU pushed their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second when Ryan Pearson hit a high fly to deep left field. AUM left fielder Matt Arrighi lost the ball in the sun for just an instant and the ball tipped off his glove allowing an unearned run to cross the plate.
AUM (47-11) came back in the top of the third to cut the lead in half. Michael Herndon and Davis Lambert had back to back singles. They moved up a base when Stephen Partrick was able to get a sacrifice down. Cortez Pearson then delivered a single into left center field scoring both runners.
SPSU scored single runs in the fourth and six innings on a Pearson RBI single and a Josh Grooms RBI single.
AUM made it interesting as they strung together three hits and scored two runs to once again cut the lead to two at 6-4. Cortez Pearson led off the inning with a solo home run, his sixth of the season. Junior Kelley then had an infield single and moved to third on a walk to Allen Ponder and then scored on a single from Matt Keel. After a walk to Bruce Alter, the Senators just missed out on taking the lead when Davis Lambert’s long fly ball was caught at the wall, just missing a grand slam home run.
After that, Flake (10-3) was able to retire the Senators in order in the ninth to hold on for the win.
Flake had a lot of help as the Runnin’ Hornets had 14 hits in the win. Griffin finished with four hits and Pearson had three hits and four RBI in the win.
For AUM, Pearson finished with two hits and three RBI. Five other players contributed with one hit each. Brett Bowen (4-1) picked up the loss. Like Flake, he came back to pitch on only three days rest, but could not get untracked as he pitched into the fourth inning allowing five runs on nine hits.
The two teams have now faced six times this season with each team winning three times. Both teams will now move on to the NAIA Region XIII tournament next week, where they may face each other again.
