Willy Hernandez hit his tenth homerun of the season
Willy Hernandez hit his tenth homerun of the season
Wed, Apr 8, 2009 - [Baseball]
HENDERSON, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lions ended up with a different opponent than expected on Tuesday, and dropped both ends of a double-header to NCAA Division II University of North Alabama, 10-9 and 11-4.

The Lions (23-11) were originally slated to play Bryan (Tenn.) College, but forfeited the games.  FHU was able to find North Alabama to play on short notice.

Freed-Hardeman came out hot in the first game, scoring nine times in the first three innings to take a 9-1 lead into the fourth.  Willy Hernandez drove in two runs with a double in the second, then brought in two more with his tenth homerun of the year in the bottom of the third.

But FHU would be able to manage only one hit the rest of the way as the UNA bats started to heat up.

Jeffery Ritter hit the first of UNA's four homeruns, a solo shot to lead off the fourth.  Collin Murphy added a two-run bomb later in the inning.  Chase Porch then hit a three-run blast in the fifth to cut FHU's lead to 9-7; one inning later, UNA pulled within one run after Qualon Millender drew a bases-loaded walk.

UNA's fourth and final homerun of the first game proved to be the game-winner when Dewayne Gunn hit a two-out, two-run shot off of reliever Jhonny Montoya (1-2) to complete the comeback.

FHU again started off strong in game two, getting a two-run homerun from Michael Clayton and a solo blast from Leo Alvarez to put up three runs in the first.  But UNA starter Matt Vandenheuvel settled down and retired 10 of the next 11 hitters while his offense exploded for five runs in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead.  North Alabama tacked on another run in the fifth and four more in the sixth to build a lead that FHU would not be able to overcome.

The Lions got a run in the bottom of the seventh on Greg Allen's RBI single.

Joey Gildea (3-2) took the loss in the second game after allowing six runs over 3.2 innings.

Freed-Hardeman returns to the diamond on Friday as it starts a three-game series with Lyon (Ark.) College in Batesville.  The series concludes with a double-header on Saturday.