ST. AUGUSTINE –
David Drysdale hit a three-run home run in the second inning and drove in the eventual game-winning run in the fourth to help lead No. 20 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30) Flagler College to a 9-5 win over Lander University in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game Friday night at Drysdale Field.
Flagler improved to 15-6 overall and 4-0 in the Peach Belt. The Saints also snapped a four-game losing streak to the Bearcats. Lander fell to 8-12 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
Trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the second,
Lorenzo Butler knocked in
Jake Hathaway who had hit a double to right field ahead of him.
Ja'Kobi Dasher, a teammate of Drysdale's at St. Joseph Academy, reached on a single and then two batters later, Drysdale belted a 1-0 fastball over the left-center field wall to give Flagler a 4-1 lead.
The Saints added another in the third, and then in the fourth, they added three more runs. Dasher and
Ethan Crout hit back-to-back doubles. Dasher could not score as he had to hold up to make sure the fly ball was not caught. Drysdale hit a grounder to shortstop to score Dasher, but Crout was caught trying to advance to third base.
Dylan Jones followed with a blast down the right field line that caromed off the foul pole, about halfway up on the screen.
The Saints would need those runs as the Bearcats tried to rally in the ninth. Alec Dowell hit a two-run single and Colton Yeager hit an RBI single to center which chased reliever
MacLain Larson.
Ethan Jones came in and issued a free pass to the first batter he faced to load the bases with no one out. He got Nathan Schreckengost to hit into a 4-6-3 double play and struck out the last batter he faced.
Drysdale, who plays on the field named for his grandfather, finished 1-for-4 with the home run, two runs scored and four runs batted in. Hathaway went 2-for-4 with a double and he scored two runs.
Lorenzo Butler singled twice, scored a run and drove in two more. Dasher singled, doubled and scored twice.
Cooper Wallace (4-1) settled down after a shaky start to toss seven innings. He allowed five hits and one run. Wallace retired 20-of-the-last-23 batters he faced. He nearly doubled his strikeout tally as he fanned 12 batters.
Yeager led the Bearcats with three singles and he had one run batted in. Ryan Troutman singled twice and scored a run.
JD Waite (1-1) tossed 3 2/3 innings, surrendered nine hits and allowed eight runs. Tripper Ergle finished the game for Lander.
The same two teams meet tomorrow (March 11) on J. Edward "Red" Cox Day at 2 p.m. Due to the weather forecast for Sunday, they will play a doubleheader tomorrow.
