April 22, 2012

Baseball: Piedmont pulls away to down Panthers 9-2

Piedmont pulled away for a 9-2 win over LaGrange on Senior Day in Williamson Stadium at Cleaveland Field. The Lions (25-15, 6-6 GSAC) took two of the three weekend games from the Panthers (14-24, 5-7 GSAC).

The Panthers' lone senior, David Miller, was honored in a pregame ceremony. Miller has earned GSAC All-Academic honors for three straight years and was a GSAC All-Conference selection last season. He was 1-for-3 at the plate in the game.

Piedmont jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Panther starter Robby Williams (2-5). The Panthers could not capitalize on early scoring chances off the Lions' starter, Matt Lisk (5-4).

Lisk walked the first three batters he faced in the bottom of the first to load the bases for the Panthers. But Lisk got out of the inning with only one run scoring by getting Cody Muren to hit into a double play and Josh Shiver to fly out for the third out.

The Lions added a run in the third and an unearned run in the sixth to go up 5-1. The Panthers got a run back in the seventh as Miles Lee scored on an error to make it 5-2.

Piedmont put the game out of reach in the eighth with four runs off reliever Kenneth Strack. Garrett Lovelace capped the inning with a three-run home run down the left field line to make it 9-2.

The Panthers close out the regular season Wednesday at home against Emory. They will host the GSAC Championship Tournament next Friday through Sunday, April 27-29.