Demorest, GA – The Piedmont College baseball team played their third consecutive non-conference game of the 2015 season tonight against the visiting Warriors of Hendrix College taking a 4-3 victory at Loudermilk Field.
The junior sluggers of Evan Gresham and Breck Davidson provided the Lions with four of their seven team hits as each continues to swing the bat well in 2015.
Pitching dominated the game for the most part with both teams hanging up 11 zeros on the scoreboard. Senior Max Oberkofler made the start on the mound for the Lions picking up his second win of the season tonight. The senior had a shutout through four innings and only gave up one run in the fifth and seventh innings.
Oberkofler finished the night throwing seven strong innings limiting the Warriors to just four hits and two runs striking out three in his outing. The Lions’ bullpen held the Warriors at bay in the eighth and ninth as Allen Tokarz and Josh Thomas would seal the win for the Lions.
Tokarz came into relieve Oberkofler in the eighth and would give up only one run on two hits. The junior reliever still sits atop the USA South in ERA with a 2.36 showing.
Tokarz has only given up 10 hits in the month of March while pitching 14 innings and allowing just two earned runs to score. Tonight’s earned run by the junior is his first since March 6 in an 8-7 win over N.C. Wesleyan College in which he pitched 3.1 innings and gave up only one earned run on two hits.
Thomas picked up his fourth save of the 2015 season tonight and is currently tied for third in the USA South Athletic Conference in that statistical category. The reliable reliever came into the game and threw seven pitches with six of them being strikes not allowing a baserunner to reach.
Gresham lead all Lions with his performance tonight going 2-for-2 with 2 RBI providing the eventual game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh with his first triple of the 2015 season. Gresham now leads the Lions with a .397 average and is the only Lion to have at least one of every extra-base hit this season.
Michael Barnes’ 17-game hit-streak came to an end tonight coming up one game shy of the school record 18 set by Mike Santowski in 2006. The junior combination of Barnes, Davidson, and Gresham combine for 91 total hits with 25 doubles and 62 RBI between the trio in 2015.
The Lions improve to 15-6 overall on the season and an impressive 10-2 playing at Loudermilk Field. Hendrix falls to an even 10-10 on the 2015 season.
Up next for the Lions will be a three-game series with visiting Averett University this weekend in Demorest at Loudermilk Field. The Lions (12-6 USA South) head into the key conference matchup in third place in the conference, while the Cougars sit in first place with an 11-4 record in the conference.
The winner of the series will take an important step towards winning a conference regular season championship though the Lions have three conference series remaining on the schedule after this weekend to decide their fate.
Fans are invited to head out to Loudermilk Field to catch the action between the two teams, or tune into the Mane Event Broadcasting Network for live video coverage. The series will start Saturday, March 28 with a double header and the final game of the series being played Sunday, March 29. Lions fans are also encouraged to check in with PiedmontLions.com for all baseball schedule updates and results.
