Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College baseball team faced off against number six nationally ranked Birmingham Southern College tonight in a non-conference game within the confines of Loudermilk Field.
A pitcher’s duel forced the game into extras, but the Lions would topple the Panthers 2-1 in the bottom of the tenth thanks to a Breck Davidson single up the middle. Davidson finished the night 2-for-4 with 2 RBI including the game winner.
The Panthers would get on the board first tonight in the top of the third inning on a sacrifice squeeze bunt from Brandon Marino that scored David Bourbonnais. The visitors held onto their one run lead until the bottom of the sixth.
Davidson picked up his first RBI of the day blasting a double that was inches from the juniors’ third homerun of the season. Griffin Olson scored all the way from first base to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the seventh.
Alex Smith made his first career start on the mound for the Lions this evening. The sophomore from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida hurled six strong innings in his first outing giving up only one earned run on three hits while striking out five.
The five strikeouts for Astin marks the highest this season by a sophomore and also the highest strikeouts mark by any sophomore pitcher in their debut in the past three seasons.
Piedmont’s junior duo of Allen Tokarz and Josh Thomas would effectively shut down any hope of Birmingham Southern picking up a run in the concluding innings. Both relievers would combine to pitch the final four innings not allowing a single hit or earned run.
Thomas made his appearance in the bottom of the top of the tenth and inherited bases loaded with no outs.
One out would come on an odd wild pitch that bounced right back into the hands of catcher Austin Brick who wasn’t able to tag the runner out at third. Throwing the ball to Will Skidmore, the runner attempted to score and give the Panthers a lead but Thomas applied to the tag for out number one.
A strikeout followed by a pop-out to Olson at short would end the inning with the Lions headed to the bottom frame of the tenth with all the momentum in their favor.
Skidmore picked up a one-out single which was the second hit of the day for the junior. An Evan Gresham walk put Skidmore on second with two outs and Davidson walking to the plate.
With all the confidence in the world, Davidson ripped the first pitch he saw from Bourbonnais and a well placed slide from Skidmore gave the Lions the victory as the team sprinted out and surrounded both Skidmore and Davidson following the win over the top ten foe.
The junior first baseman for the Lions continues to catch fire as Davidson has gone 9-for-16 in the past five games with an astounding 7 RBI which also includes a double and a homerun.
The sixth ranked Panthers are the highest ranked opponent the men in Green and Gold have defeated since knocking off number four ranked Christopher Newport University in a 5-3 win on March 17, 2013 in Newport News, Virginia.
Earlier this season the Lions beat tenth ranked Emory University and with tonight’s win, the Lions have defeated two or more top ten opponents in the same season since 2012, a season which saw the Lions defeat fourth ranked Christopher Newport and also number one ranked Marietta College.
Piedmont moves to 18-11 on the season while the Panthers drop to 24-6-1. Coming up this weekend, the Lions will travel to William Peace University in Cary, North Carolina. Game times are set for 7 p.m. this Friday night, 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and game three at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Fans are encouraged to stay updated on all Piedmont College baseball information including schedule changes and results by visiting PiedmontLions.com
