YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – No. 11 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Flagler College's rally late in the game fell short in a 4-3 loss at Young Harris College in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game Saturday afternoon at Zell B. Miller Field.
Young Harris won its fourth game, completed the series sweep, and improved to 16-13 overall and 10-8 in the Peach Belt. Flagler lost its fourth game in a row and fell to 23-8 overall and 14-4 in conference play.
In the ninth inning, pinch hitter
Jimmy Peck led off with a single to center.
Jake Matulia came in to run for Peck at first base. DiPuglia reached on an error by reliever Jake Tomelevage who had a hard time fielding DiPuglia's sacrifice bunt attempt. The next bunt attempt was fielded cleanly by Brett Graczyk at third base and flipped to shortstop Corley Reynolds for the force out at third base. An infield popup would be the second out of the inning, but
Dillon Reed was hit by a pitch to load the bases and the tying run was 90 feet away.
Aaron Anderson drew a full count on Young Harris closer Steven Eichhorn, but lifted a fly ball to right field to end the game.
The Mountain Lions struck first when a Jackson Jones single to right field scored Logan Worley from second base in the third inning.
Tristin Smith hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give Young Harris a 3-0 lead.
In the seventh, Reynolds led off the inning by reaching first after being hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a single and took third on a groundout. With runners on the corners, Flagler reliever
Ethan Jones tried to pick Worley off first base, but an errant throw allowed Worley to move up a base and Reynolds scored the important fourth run for the Mountain Lions.
Flagler's offense showed life in the eighth with a three-run outburst.
Steven DiPuglia led off the inning with a home run and
Nikolas Dague followed with a walk. Two batters later, Reed reached on an infield single and the Anderson drew a walk to load the bases.
Jason Moore hit a sacrifice fly to center field to close the gap to 4-2, and Reed moved up to third.
Frankie Martello reached on an infield single which scored Reed and the Saints trailed by a run.
That chased starter Dylan Gibeau (2-1) from the game. Tomelevage came on to strikeout the next batter to get out of the inning.
Young Harris left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth.
Tyler Washington collected two singles for the Mountain Lions.
Gibeau scattered six hits and allowed three runs in 7 2/3 innings on the mound. He fanned eight and walked three. Eichhorn picked up his second save after retiring the final batter of the game.
Louis Pugliese (2-1) took the loss on the hill for the Saints. He allowed six hits and two run in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six.
Ethan Jones worked 2 2/3 innings in relief.
Reed led the Saints with three singles and he scored a run. DiPuglia went 2-for-2 with the solo homer.
Flagler plays host to Florida Tech on Tuesday (March 27) at 6 p.m. at Drysdale Field.
