FLORENCE, S.C. | Young Harris College scored in every inning but two as the No. 33 Mountain Lions blitzed Francis Marion University 24-13 in the Peach Belt Conference baseball series finale Sunday (March 1) afternoon at Sparrow Stadium.
Young Harris improved to 9-5 overall and to 3-3 in the Peach Belt, while the Patriots fell to 7-9 and 3-5. Young Harris returns to Zell B. Miller Field Tuesday (March 3) with a 4 p.m. contest against Tusculum University.
Every starter but one in the YHC lineup had at least one hit and five of them had multiple hits. Seven different hitters drove in multiple run.
Young Harris scored four times in the second to take a 4-1 lead. The Mountain Lions scored their first run on a balk before
Tucker Greer drove in a run with a single up the middle and
Jackson Jones added a two-run single to center.
After the Patriots got a run back in the second, the Mountain Lions broke the game open with a nine-run fourth inning on just four hits. YHC sent 14 batters to the plate. The Mountain Lions took advantage of eight hit batters, including four in the second inning. The eight in the game fell one short of the Peach Belt record, while the four in the inning tied a league mark.
Logan Worley,
Oscar Serratos,
John Miller each drove in runs after being hit by a pitch. Jones added a sacrifice fly and
Dahlton Cash, who had a two-run homer in the seventh, had an RBI single.
Paul Salata added an RBI double before
Brett Hawkins drove in two with a double of his own.
The Mountain Lions added three runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth to open up a 22-3 lead.
Worley led the 18-hit attack with four hits, while Jones, Greer and Hawkins collected three apiecce. Cash had two hits for the Mountain Lions. Worley and Hawkins each drove in four rins, while Jones, Cash abd
Kyle Ayers each tallied three RBI. Salata and Greer each drove in two. Worley, Jones, Salata, Hawkins, Ayers and Greer each had a double for YHC.
McLain Harris (1-1) earned the win with 4 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed just one run with six hits and five strikeouts.
