February 23, 2008

                DAYTON, TN—After being washed out on Friday night, the Lions took the field for a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon against the Trojans of Taylor University. The games were schedules to be part of the Bryan College/Tennessee Temple Invitational, but were reduced to a simple 2 game series because of weather.

                Bryan got things going quickly in the bottom half of the first with a leadoff double from shortstop Ryan Henn. The next two hitters were retired quickly and it appeared the Lions threat would be thwarted, but senior left fielder Brad Starnes stroked a 2-out Homerun over the wall in right centerfield to put the Lions up 2-0 and give Bryan starter Daniel Zimmerman an early cushion to work with.  Taylor answered with 2 runs of their own in the top of the 2^nd to tie the game at 2. Bryan would tack on another run in the bottom of the 3^rd, but the Trojans again had an answer, plating another run in the top of the 4^th to tie the game once again.

                Taylor scored every inning from the 4^th on, while Trojans started Taylor Kinzer settled in and quieted the Lions bats. Zimmerman left the game after 5 innings of work with Bryan trailing 5-3, and was relieved by freshman Adam Polston. Polston had been dominant in earlier performances this year, but did not have his best stuff working, as Taylor added a run in the 6^th and 2 more in the 7^th to extend their lead to 5, 8-3. All three runs allowed by Polston came on homeruns, as Christian Burrell hit his second HR of the game to deep centerfield in the 6^th, and Kinzer hit a laser over the wall in left for the Trojans’ final two tallies of the night.  Final Score: Taylor 8-Bryan 3

                There were few bright spots in the loss for the Lions who left 10 runners on base in the contest and managed only 3 runs, tying their second lowest offensive output of the year. At the plate for Bryan, Starnes went 2-for-3 with the both RBI’s coming on the HR. Freshman J.D. Davis had 2 hits for the Lions as well and drove in the only other run of the night.  Kinzer was credited with the victory for Taylor, while Zimmerman took the loss for the Lions.

                After a disappointing performance in game 1, the Lions looked to regroup as they headed into the night’s second contest. Again it was Bryan who got on the scoreboard first after back to back doubles by Davis and centerfielder Michael Kent in the bottom half of the 1^st inning. Kent’s double afforded Lions’ hurler Ben Young an early lead, but Taylor would again answer the Lions’ attack.

                After posting zeroes in the first two innings, Young found himself in trouble in the top half of the third. Two walks and a throwing error loaded the bases for Trojan centerfielder Nate Hillery who threw his hands at a splitter and tucked it just beyond the wall in left field for a grand slam. When the dust settled on the third inning, Taylor had plated 6 runs and held a 5 run advantage, 6-1.

                Showing senior leadership, Brad Starnes stepped to the plate to open the bottom of the 3^rd inning and hit a solo shot just over the wall in left for his second homerun of the night, bringing the score to 6-2. The run was the last the Lions would muster on the night, as Taylor added to their advantage with a run in the 4^th and 2 more on Burrell’s third homerun of the doubleheader in the 7^th inning. Bryan was unable to mount a rally and dropped the second game of the night.  Final Score: Taylor 9- Bryan 2.

                It was again the Lions’ inability to produce runs that cost them the contest. After leaving 10 runners on base in the 1^st game, the Lions left 11 on base in game two. Ben Young took the loss for the Lions allowing 7 runs, only 3 of which were earned. It wasn’t a bad outing for Young, who the Lions will count on during the bulk of their conference schedule; it was simply a game of missed opportunities.

                Lions Head Coach Joel Johnson was disappointed by the performance: “These are two games we should have won. We left 21 men on base tonight which is never good, but tonight it is especially frustrating because we knew how they were pitching us and our guys failed to make adjustments. (Taylor) played well and I’m not taking anything away from them, but I feel like we gave two games away tonight. Our goal is to win 30 ballgames and we didn’t take any steps towards that tonight. We have 4 tough games coming up and we’re going to have to figure out just how bad our guys want ‘it’ or it will be a long week. It’s still early though, we can bounce back if we decide we want to.”

The Lions will now turn their attention to Tuesday afternoon when they take on the Flames of Lee University. Lee is currently ranked 5^th in the NAIA National Poll.