Fayetteville, N.C. – The Piedmont College Baseball team wrapped up their series with Ferrum College Monday at the neutral site Methodist Univeristy and took a decisive 10-1 victory in game 3.
The Lions bats would explode for ten runs on thirteen hits and four doubles, but senior Max Oberkofler stole the spotlight throwing his first complete game of his career.
Oberkofler picked up his first win of the 2015 season after receiving three no-decisions so far this season. The senior is out to an outstanding start throwing 25 innings and only allowing four earned runs putting his E.R.A. at a USA South Athletic Conference best 1.44.
Oberkofler held the Panthers to just five hits and an unearned run while striking out four.
The senior had plenty of help from the explosive Lions’ offense as well. Micheal Barnes and Evan Gresham both had three hit days with Barnes picking up his 3 RBI on a base clearing double in the top of the ninth.
The junior duo also accounted for four of the Lions 10 runs in the ball game, as well as Barnes scorching two doubles improving his total to 5 on the year, and Gresham picked up his fourth double of the season
Senior Keith Grabowski set a season high mark for single-game RBI with four going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Brad Stinson picked up the first RBI of the game on a fielder’s choice in the top of the 2nd, and the Lions would never look back, scoring three more that inning and one run each inning for the next three. The Lions would sit ahead 7-0 until the Panthers would pick up their only run in the bottom of the seventh.
As a team, the men in green and gold picked up nine doubles and a triple in the series. Barnes and Breck Davidson improved their season total to a team high 10 RBI for the year, while the pair are also tied for doubles with five on the year.
Barnes also leads the team with his 20 hits, and is second on the team in batting average posting a .417 average through the first twelve games of the season.
The Lions now have six players batting over .300 while scoring 74 runs with 30 doubles and two triples.
Three insurance runs in the top of the ninth would seal the fate of the Panthers and improve the Lions to 8-4 overall as well as 8-4 in USA South Athletic Conference play. Ferrum would drop to 7-5 overall and 6-3 in the USA South.
Piedmont’s next competition will be at home at Loudermilk Stadium against fellow USA South Athletic Conference member North Carolina Wesleyan College. The three-game series will start on Friday, March 6 with first pitch at 7 p.m. The series will continue Saturday, March 7 at 3 p.m. and will finish Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to stay tuned to PiedmontLions.com for updates. For more information on the Piedmont baseball program, follow Piedmont on Twitter (@PiedmontLions), like the Lions on Facebook (facebook.com/PiedmontCollegeLions), or sign up for the Lions’ Roar text-messaging score & news alerts through the “All-Access” pull down menu on the main page at PiedmontLions.com.
