For four seasons Nate Wierzgac has been a mainstay of the Lee University baseball team and he closed out his career at Olympic Field on Monday afternoon with a walk-off home run, giving the Flames a 6-5 win over Mississippi College in the final game of the three-game Gulf South Conference series.
Not only did Wierzgac blast the walk-off homer, he delivered a two-run homer earlier in the contest. The Lee catcher finished the afternoon with three RBI and two runs scored. He leads the Flames with 10 round-trippers and in RBI (34).
“Nate has had a huge year and he continues to get big hits for us,” said Lee head coach Mark Brew.
“What a way for him to wrap up his career at Olympic Field. I'm happy for all the seniors that they got a win in their final home game.”
It was a sweet ending to a tough weekend for the Flames. The Choctaws won the opening game of the series on Sunday afternoon 12-1 and came back to capture the series with a 6-2 victory earlier on Monday.
In the final contest against the Choctaws the Flames fell behind 4-0 in the first inning. They came fighting back with five runs in the second to take a 5-4 lead. In the inning, Jordan Howard and Geremy Walton doubled and Peyton Meeker singled before Wierzgac launched his first homer of the afternoon over the left-field wall.
The Choctaws tied the game in the third inning and the contest remained deadlocked at five until Wierzgac’s dramatic walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Walton and Howard joined Wierzgac with two hits in Lee’s 10-hit attack. Walton collected two RBI and scored once. Howard teamed with Meeker to score runs and Meeker also posted a run batted in. Drew Johnson doubled and Dalton Ney joined Zack Zyburt with one hit.
Pitching was a key in the series-final win. After Jumpei Akanuma surrendered four runs in one inning of work, coach Brew called on Tyler Burcham, who had not pitched a single inning this season due to an injury. He came on to hurl two innings and worked the Flames out of a key jam in the third. Burcham allowed two hits, one earned run, struck out two and walked one. “It was great to see Tyler Burcham get out there too as well today. He has had a long road in his recovery,” commented Brew about the left-hander.
Wes Albert (6-2) was called on for the final four innings and did not allow a hit while striking out three and walking just one hitter. He recorded the pitching victory. “Wes gave us a huge lift out of the bullpen with the four no-hit innings,” pointed out Brew.
Tim Holloway was the losing Choctaw pitcher. He pitched only one-third of an inning but allowed the winning home run ball. Hunter Lacefield was the Mississippi College starter and lasted only 1.2 innings. Jake Fraze pitched a solid four innings before giving way to Holloway.
Hunter Wilson and Hunter Austin had two-base hits for the losers. Austin joined Grant Barber with a pair of RBI.
Game 1 – Mississippi College 6, Lee 2
The Choctaws pecked away at the Flames in Monday’s opener. They scored a single run in the first and added single scores in the fourth and eighth before tacking on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth. The Flames could only manage solo runs in the fifth and eighth innings while leaving eight runners on base.
Lefty Hunter Mullis (4-3) pitched seven innings of six-hit ball and Holloway came on for the final two innings in the Choctaw victory.
It was a tough loss for Lee’s left-hander Art Vidrio (4-3). In seven innings, he surrendered seven hits and three earned runs. “Art pitched well enough to win, but we didn't have any run support for him,” noted the Lee skipper. Joe Parete hurled one inning and surrendered two hits and an earned run, while Kit Larson came on for an inning allowing three hits and two earned runs.
Casey Echols carried the big stick for the Choctaws. He banged out three hits, knocking in two runs and scoring twice. Chance Whitten tripled and singled, while Blaine Crim continued to cause Lee all types of trouble in the series with a pair of hits and two runs batted in.
Johnson and Wierzgac doubled in the loss, while Walton banged out a pair of hits. Tyler Payne had a one-base hit, while Meeker joined Wierzgac with Lee’s two RBI.
The Flames will have little time to recover from the three-game series. They will board the bus and head for Greeneville, Tenn. on Tuesday morning and face Tusculum College in a single nine-inning game. The game is slated for a 6 p.m. start.