March 29, 2008

                Dayton, Tn.—On a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon, the Lions took the diamond against the rival Covenant College Scots in an AAC twinbill that was in question right up until the first pitch. Once the decision was made to play despite the weather, it was clear from the early going that the Lions had come ready to play. After two tough losses early in the week at NAIA #2 Lee University which saw the Lions get solid pitching and play solid defense, Bryan kept that momentum going in dispatching of the Scots twice on Saturday.

                Pitching in front of a smaller-than-usual home crowd due to the weather, lefty Daniel Bosarge (Jr., Rome, GA) threw 5 1/3 strong innings to keep the Lions ahead all afternoon. Bosarge was rescued by the double play all afternoon, managing to induce 4 in just 5 innings. With Bosarge keeping the Scots in check, the Bryan batsmen went to work on Covenant starter Brian Figert. After Bosarge allowed a homerun to Covenant’s Luke Furuto in the top of the 3^rd, the Lions answered with 3 runs of their own to take a 2 run lead. Another 3-run inning in the 6^th stretched the Bryan lead to 5, before Covenant touched up Bosarge for 2 more runs in the 6^th. Adam Polston (Fr., Palmyra, TN) came on in relief of Bosarge and threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless 1-hit baseball to close out the win. Jeremiah Peters (Sr., Sherwood, AR) added a solo homerun in the bottom of the 7^th for the Lions last run of the contest. The 7-3 margin was all Polston needed, as the Lions took game 1 7-3.

                The rain continued as game 2 began, and so did the Lions’ dominance of the Scots as right hander Daniel Zimmerman (So., Grandview, TN) threw a complete game for Bryan, limiting the Scots to just a 1^st inning solo homerun. Zimmerman settled in, allowing just 5 hits on the day and keeping the Scots off the scoreboard the rest of the afternoon while the Lions worked hard to answer the homerun and take the lead against Covenant starter Ben Loderhose.

                Bryan didn’t have to wait long to tie the score, as third baseman Will Newman (Jr., Dayton, TN) launched a solo homerun in the bottom of the 1^st to tie the contest at 1. Newman added another RBI for the Lions on a single back up the middle in the 3^rd inning which scored Jeremy Potts (Sr., Danville, KY) for the 2-1 lead. J.D. Davis (Fr., Atlanta, GA) added another RBI on a fielder’s choice in the 6^th for the 2 run cushion and the Scots never threatened again. Zimmerman also used the double play ball, inducing the Scots into 2 twin-killings in the contest, on his way to the complete game victory.

                With the victory, Bryan moves to 13-19 on the year and holds a record of 3-7 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The victory also moved the Lions out of a tie for 9^th place in the conference and into a tie for 7^th place heading into this weekend’s contest with Bluefield. The top 8 teams in the conference make the AAC Post-Season tournament, and the Lions have moved themselves into a strong position in which they control their own destiny for the post-season.