Tue, Mar 23, 2010 - [Baseball]
ST. LOUIS - The Freed-Hardeman Lions saved their best inning for last, and it helped them earn a double-header split with Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University on Monday afternoon.
Trailing by four runs heading into the last inning of the second game, the Lions (16-9) exploded for nine runs and took an 11-6 win to split the day's games. HSSU won the opener, 7-1.
FHU's first three runs of the inning came on a pair of bases loaded walks and a hit batsman that also came with the bases loaded. Noslen Labrada then delivered a two-run single that gave the Lions the lead, and Evan Mansell further added to the damage with a two-out, bases-clearing double.
Trae Luttrell (1-1) struck out the side in the seventh to end the game and finish off 3.1 innings of hitless relief of Gage Franklin, who the Hornets roughed up for five runs in the fourth.
In the opener, HSSU got four runs in the third and three in the fourth off of Lion starter Adam Blackburn (2-3). Roman Kelly tossed three innings of scoreless relief for FHU, but the Lions would not be able to make a dent in the deficit as Brian Bullard's double in the fifth inning brought in the only run of the game for Freed-Hardeman.
It was a homecoming of sorts for first year FHU head coach Jonathan Estes, who returned to Missouri to face the program he left to come to Henderson. It was also the first time he managed against his brother, David Estes, who succeeded him as the coach at Harris-Stowe. Both Estes brothers played collegiate baseball at Freed-Hardeman.
