2012 Baseball

HENDERSON, Tenn. - The Mid-Continent (Ky.) Cougars did something only one other team has done all season against the Freed-Hardeman Lions in the opening game of a three-game series on Friday at Carnes Field.

They won a game that Jorge Lorie started.

Mid-Continent (11-27, 2-8) was able to get four runs off of the Lions' ace in his seven innings of work, then took the lead for good in the eighth on Tanner Hall's solo homerun en route to a 6-4 win.

It was just the second time in seven starts by Lorie that the Lions did not win.  The only other time happened on March 21 against Martin Methodist when FHU lost 2-0.

This time Lorie took a no-decision as the Lions answered every time the Cougars scored.  FHU tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on Daniel Peck's sacrifice fly; then, after MCU got two more off of Lorie in the top of the third, the Lions again tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on RBI singles by Willy Hernandez and Michael Clayton.

Neither team scored again until the seventh inning, when Mid-Continent retook the lead on a Sean Aldrich sacrifice fly.  Once again, the Lions would tie the game back up at 4-4 after Derek Bush's sacrifice fly brought home Hernandez.

Hall then hit a solo shot to lead off FHU reliever Derek Williford (0-2) to lead off the top of the eighth in what proved to be the game's decisive run, although the Lions looked poised to tie or take the lead in the bottom of the inning after getting runners on the corners with no one out and the top of the order coming up.

Instead, Aldrich relieved Chris Buckman and struck out Greg Allen and Leo Alvarez before coaxing a groundout off the bat of Hernandez to end the inning.

The Cougars picked up another run in the top of the ninth for insurance that they didn't need as Aldrich set the Lions down in order finish the game.

Hernandez and Clayton each had a pair of hits for the Lions, who stole five bases in the game including two by Hernandez.

The loss drops Freed-Hardeman to 19-9 on the season and 7-4 in conference play.  The series concludes on Saturday with a double-header beginning at 12:00 noon.