CLEVELAND, Miss. – UWF baseball (31-19) suffered a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Lee University (27-24) in the second game of the GSC Tournament Monday at Ferriss Field. The Flames scored six times with two outs in the third inning to open the game up, and the Argos were never able to climb back in it.
"The old adage of the winning team scores more runs in one inning than the losing team scores in the entire game proved true today," said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat. "It's disappointing. You've got to tip your cap to Lee. They really came out with a lot of energy. Their pitcher did an outstanding job giving them a CG."
Starter Dylan Mills-Derouen struck out five over the first two innings. Jordan Howard tagged him for a two-out, two-strike home run to put Lee up 2-0 in the top of the third. The Flames would add four more runs on four more hits and two walks before the inning was through to open a 6-0 lead.
"I thought he battled with his command there in the first," Jeffcoat said about Mills-Derouen. "We got a big strike-him-out-throw-him-out on the steal, and got some momentum going, was able to work out of a jam in the second with some strikeouts. Just made an 0-2 pitch with two outs, and Howard, their good hitter, hit it out."
Mills-Derouen finished with 2.2 innings pitched, six runs (six earned) surrendered, five strikeouts, and two walks. Josh Pahlad, Jared Gonzalez, and Alex Knight combined for 5.1 innings of one-run ball in relief.
Offensively, the Argos struggled to get going vs. Lee starter Pat Morrow. A failed squeeze play in the second was as close as UWF would get to scoring. The Argos left the bases loaded later in that inning and would go on to leave six while hitting into four double plays.
"We left the bases loaded twice, I think, yesterday before we finally busted through," said Jeffcoat. "You can't keep doing that and getting away with it."
Matthew Jones and Jacob Silverstein were the only Argos to finish with multiple hits. Lee outhit UWF 13-7 for the game. Morrow (5-0) earned the win for the Flames after throwing all nine innings.
UWF will take on Montevallo (35-15) to close pool play tomorrow. Start time vs. the Falcons in currently TBA and will be made available later this afternoon.
UWF will need help to advance to the GSC Tournament championship game. The Argos will need to beat Montevallo tomorrow and hope that West Georgia beats Montevallo tonight as well as Lee tomorrow. In the event that UWF, West Georgia and Lee all finish pool play 2-1, UWF will advance to the championship by virtue of being the highest seed.
"We can't control what other teams do," said Jeffcoat. "All we can control is what we do, so that's our motto and that's our goal for tomorrow."
For the latest information on the Argos, follow the team on Twitter @UWF_Baseball.
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