YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – The offenses of Flagler College and Young Harris ruled the day as the two teams split a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader on Saturday where they combined to score 46 runs on 61 hits at Zell B. Miller Field. The Mountain Lions rallied in the ninth inning to win the opener 11-10, but the Saints avoided the sweep with a 16-9 win in the second game.
Flagler leaves with an overall record of 9-11 and a 4-8 record in the Peach Belt. Young Harris is now 8-13 overall and 3-9 in conference play.
In the second game, the Saints rallied for three runs in the second to cut the deficit to 4-3 and then erupted for five more runs in the fourth to take a commanding 8-4 lead. Flagler sent 10 men to the plate in the inning and took advantage of a pair of balks by Young Harris reliever Johnny Spring.
The inning started with three base hits that never left the infield.
Jason Moore, who hit a three-run homer in the second inning, reached on a dribbler to the starting pitcher, Michael Livingston (2-3).
Jabe Molinaro and
Bryce Evans followed with bunt singles to load the bases. A sacrifice fly by
Kolin McMillen tied the game at 4-all and then back-to-back singles by
Cole Ondrejka and
Igor Baez staked the Saints to a 6-4 lead.
James Jean worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases and that's when Livingston handed the ball over to Spring. Spring gave up a run when he was called for a balk and then hit the next batter,
Dylan Jones, to re-load the bases. Spring was called for another balk and the Saints added another run to take an 8-4 lead.
Flagler added two more runs in the seventh to take a 10-6 lead. Evans hit an RBI double to score the insurance run.
The Saints tacked on four runs in the eighth with the help of a solo home run by Jean and a bases clearing triple by Molinaro.
Michael Maiocco (3-1) picked up the win in relief for the Saints. He pitched 5.2 innings, scattered five hits, allowed two runs, walked two and struck out seven.
Luke Cooksey started, but was only able to go one-third of an inning.
Matt Wynne and
MacLain Larson closed out the game.
Flagler collected a season-high 19 hits in the game and everyone that played in the game had at lead one hit. Evans finished 3-for-6 with a double, a run scored and he had a run batted in. Ondrejka went 3-for-6 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Molinaro also went 3-for-6 but had the triple, three RBI and he scored a run. Moore went 2-for-5 with the home run, four runs scored and four RBI.
Livingston was roughed up for 11 hits and eight runs in 3.1 innings. A total of seven Mountain Lions pitched in the game.
Zach Wall led Young Harris' offense by going 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI.
Flagler showed its resiliency in the first game having to fight its way back from a 5-1 deficit in the first to tie the game 5-all in the third and then 6-all in the sixth.
Down 9-6 going into the top of the ninth, the Saints rallied for four runs to take a 10-9 lead. Ondrejka drove in a run with a single and Baez followed with an RBI double which sent Young Harris reliever Jake Ganter to the showers. Jean's sacrifice fly tied the score at 9-all and Baez was able to tag up at second and go to third base on the play. Jones then laid down a squeeze bunt which scored Baez to give Flagler the 10-9 lead.
Flagler reliever
Jeremy Graf (1-2) came on to pitch in the bottom of the ninth. After a strikeout, he gave up back-to-back singles to Jimmy Pinakidis and Zach Odom which put runners on the corners for the Mountain Lions. A ground out to shortstop scored Pinakidis from third and Odom moved up to second with the winning run. The next batter, Nick Sexton, was walked intentionally to put runners on first and second with two outs. Graf then hit the next batter, Wall, to load the bases. Then Luke Miller worked a five-pitch walk to plate Odom with the winning run. Graf allowed two hits and two runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Dylan Gibeau (1-1) the last of the four pitchers used by Young Harris, picked up the win. He tossed one inning, allowed two inherited runners to score, but statistically did not yield a run.
Brett Westmoreland and Casey Selfe paced the 18-hit attack with three hits apiece. Westmoreland had a double and two singles and he drove in one run and scored twice. Selfe collected three singles and had one RBI. Zach Beggs went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run to go along with four RBI.
Kyle Schackne did a great job in long relief for the Saints. He tossed 5.1 innings, scattered four hits, allowed one run, walked one and fanned five.
Ondrejka belted a solo home run in the first inning and had an RBI single in the ninth. McMillen went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Baez also went 2-for-5 with a double, but scored two runs and drove in a pair. Jean finished with a pair of singles; he scored a run and drove in another. Brandan McKendry went 2-for-4 with a double and he scored a run.
Flagler will play its first home games since Feb. 27 on Tuesday (March 15) when it hosts Fairmont State University in a doubleheader at noon at Drysdale Field.
