ST. AUGUSTINE –
Gage Voorhees (7-1) fanned eight batters in eight innings and Flagler College scored four runs in the sixth inning to defeat No. 6 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Columbus State University 5-4 in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game Friday night at Drysdale Field on "Senior Night."
Flagler evened its overall record to 24-24 and improved to 16-9 in the Peach Belt. Columbus State dropped to 36-9 overall and 18-6 in league play.
Donovan Garcia's RBI single in the fifth tied the game at 1-all.
In the sixth,
Trey Newland led off the inning with a base hit.
Matthew Burke followed with a sacrifice bunt, but the throw from starting pitcher Devin Dudal (8-4) went down the right field line and allowed the runners to advance to second and third.
John Fiorenza lifted a fly ball to center field that was able to score Newland from third to give Flagler a 2-1 lead. Burke was able to make it to third.
Jaiden Warde hit a ground ball to Columbus State first baseman Trace Twardoski, who made a diving stop, but chose to throw out Burke who was sprinting to the plate. The throw was a fraction of a second late. Dudal's night was over after
Ashton Thomas laced a single to left field.
Austin Elliott walked the first batter he faced to load the bases.
Zach Thomas hit a run-scoring single to center, which kept the bases loaded.
Tyler Keith hit a ground ball to Twardoski, whose throw to the plate was in plenty of time to get the force out. However, Elliott threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score and give the Saints a 5-1 lead.
That would be just enough for Flagler as Columbus State scored two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. The Cougars had the tying run 90 feet away with two outs, but
Dylan Faulkner struck out the last batter to earn his third save of the season.
Voorhees scattered seven hits and allowed three runs to earn the win for Flagler. Faulkner tossed two-thirds of an inning, allowed one hit and fanned two for the save.
Luke Welborn drew two walks and scored two runs, including the run in the sixth that gave the Saints the 5-1 advantage. Newland, Fiorenza,
Ashton Thomas,
Zach Thomas, and
Donovan Garcia all had base hits.
Dudal allowed five runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings in the loss.
Steve Minter and Derek Wylie each collected two singles and scored a run.
The same two teams meet tomorrow at 2 p.m. on "Law Enforcement Day" at Drysdale Field.
NOTE: Prior to the start of the game, Flagler honored its four seniors:
Ryan Ayrey,
Myles Colangelo,
John Fiorenza and
Tyler Keith.
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