Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College baseball team dropped both games this afternoon in a doubleheader with USA South Conference leader Methodist University losing the first game narrowly 7-6 and the second game 10-3.
Austin Brick and Breck Davidson both homered this afternoon, but the Lions were not able to contain the Monarch offense.
The Monarchs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the first game, but the Lions would respond with two of their own in the home half of the opening inning. Daniel Lindsey picked up his sole two RBI for the day ripping a single that scored Davidson and Evan Gresham.
The Lions would not pick up another run until the fifth on a Gresham single that scored Will Skidmore. However, the Monarchs would pick up one run apiece in the third and fourth with two in the fifth to make the score 5-3 headed into the sixth.
Again the Monarchs would strike in the seventh extending their lead to three with the Lions down to their final nine outs. One swing would provide all the magic the Lions needed as Breck Davidson picked up his second home run of the season with two runners on for a three-run blast that tied the game at 6-6 headed into the eighth.
Methodist would edge out the Lions in the ninth scoring in the final frame after compiling 14 hits over the game and five sacrifice hits. Six different players picked up an RBI in the first game with two Monarchs, Chris Power and Pete Wildeboer, picking up three hits each. Three other players had two hits with all five combining for 12 of the Monarchs’ 14 hits.
Chris Georshel made the start on the bump and took the no decision for the Lions being relieved by Luke Macdonald, who threw 2.1 innings giving up only one run and three hits, before Matt Stephens, and finally Allen Tokarz finished out the contest. Tokarz inherited the loss in the first game moving to 2-3 on the year.
Picking up the win on the mound for the Monarchs was Rett Lee (2-2) after giving relief to Josh Howard who held the Lions to 3 runs over six innings. Howard moved to second in strikeouts for the USA South Athletic Conference with 43 on the year so far.
Offensively the Lions were led by Griffin Olson and Davidson in the first game who both acquired three hits. All five remaining hits for the Lions in game one were from individual performances.
After the late-inning loss of game one, the Lions were unable to recover the momentum in the second game. Even after an Austin Brick solo home run, the pitching and situational hitting for the Monarchs would prove to be too much in game two for the home team to overcome.
The early going favored the Lions who, after a Breck Davidson RBI single in the first, took a 2-0 lead on a solo shot from Austin Brick in the bottom of the second. However, after the early spark, the Monarchs picked up six runs in the top of the third, four of which came on a Stephen Nall grand slam that took the energy out of the home ballpark.
Adding two more in the next inning, Methodist assumed control of the contest holding Piedmont to three total runs in the encore matchup though the Monarchs’ ten runs in game two of the doubleheader would come on nine total hits. As a team, Methodist drew seven walks and came out on top of a 10-3 decision in game two to take the first two games of the decisive series.
Freshman Seth George took the loss in game two to move to 3-3 on the year while Travis Johnson earned the win for Methodist to move to 5-1 on the mound this season. Offensively, PC was paced by Will Skidmore’s 2-for-4 showing with a run scored while five other Lions picked up a single hit each.
Austin Brick was 1-for-3 with a walk as his solo homer in the 2nd inning was one of five home runs hit at Loudermilk on Friday.
Now sitting at 17-10 overall and 14-9 in league play, Piedmont will look to take the final game of the series to avoid the sweep when the Lions host Methodist on Saturday, April 4 with first pitch set for 2:00 pm at Loudermilk. Live coverage, including live stats and video, will be available for fans who can’t make it to the ballpark courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network.
