STRONG PITCHING AND TIMELY HITTING LEAD VOLS TO THREE GAME SWEEP

Wadley, AL -

The Logan Vols, behind strong pitching, went undefeated at the Southern Union Invitational in Wadley, Alabama.  The three wins on the weekend move the Vols to 7-0 on the season. Logan would take down Dyersburg State, 3-1; Spartanburg Methodist 4-2, on Friday and would take down the host, Southern Union on Saturday 5-4. The Vols will be back in action next weekend at home when Illinois Central College travels to Carterville to open the Logan Classic.

In game one of the weekend the Vols matched up against a quality Dyersburg State team out of Dyersburg, Tennessee.  Starting pitcher Luke Seed (1-0) made his best start on the early season going seven innings while allowing only three hits, one run and striking out 12.  The Vols would strike first with a single run in the bottom of the 4^th inning after Mike Carey lined a ball to right-center field with two outs to score Drew Winters. 

Dyersburg State would answer with their only run of the game in the top of the 5^th inning making it a 1-1 ballgame.  The Vols quickly regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning after Ryan Hampe's RBI groundout scoring Cameron Langston. 

Logan would tack on a big insurance run in the bottom of the 8^th inning after back to back singles by Hampe and Winters followed by back to back walks to Ethan English and Cody Jansen making the score 3-1 Vols.

Freshman pitcher, Dawson Taylor earned the save (1) working the final two innings without allowing a hit and striking out one.  Ryan Hampe led the Vols offense with two hits, a run scored and one RBI.

Game two saw the Vols square up with another quality in Spartanburg Methodist from Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Quality pitching and timely hitting was once again the recipe for success for the Vols.  Starting pitcher Andrew Hoffmann (1-0) allowed a first inning run however that would be all that the right hander would surrender.

It didn't take long for the Logan offense to regain the lead scoring two runs in the top of the 2^nd inning.  An Ethan English single followed by a Cody Jansen single set the table for a Jason Hodges RBI sac fly and a two out RBI single by Mike Carey to make it a 2-1 ballgame.  The Vols would extend their lead in the top of the 4^th inning when English lined a home run of the scoreboard in left center field. 

 The fifth inning marked the end of Andrew Hoffmann's outing.  He went 5 innings only allowing the one run (unearned) on one hit while striking out 9.  Brodie Lenon entered the game in the 6^th inning.  A couple quick singles paired with a few walks had the Pioneers threatening after one run in and the bases loaded with nobody out.  Lenon was able to work his way out of the inning preserving a 3-2 Logan lead. 

That score would remain the same until the top of the 8^th inning when an Ethan English RBI double made it 4-2 Logan.  After Lenon worked a scoreless 7^th and 8^th innings he would be replaced by Hale Sims.  The line on the day for Lenon was three innnigs pitched, three hits, one run and two strikeouts.  Sims worked a clean 9^th inning to earn the save (1) and secure the Vols' second victory of the day. 

Ethan English and Tyler Acosta paced the Vols offense with multiple hits.

In game three of the weekend the Vols faced host school Southern Union State Community College.  In their 3^rd game the Vols got on the board first with a solo homerun by Drew Winters.  The score would remain 1-0 Logan until the 5^th inning when the Logan offense would get things going again.  After a Tyler Acosta single and stolen base Ryan Hampe, Ethan English and Drew Winters would all follow with RBI singles stretching the Vols lead to 4-0. 

After five clean and efficient innings from Cameron Robinson the Bison were finally able to get to the sophomore right hander for three runs in the bottom of the 6^th inning.  Robinson's day would be complete after six full innings allowing three runs on four hits while striking out five.  Hunter Ralls would be the new pitcher to start the 7^th inning with a 4-3 lead.  The score remained 4-3 heading to the 9^th inning when Logan added a valuable insurance run on a solo home run by Tyler Acosta. 

The Bison would not go quietly in the bottom half of the 9^th inning.  With runners on 1^st and 2^nd base and two outs the Bison would end up on the right side of a close call at 2^nd base in which a run scored making it a 5-4 game with the tying run at 2^nd base and the winning run at 1^st base with two outs.  The Vols would call on sophomore Ethan English to close the game as we was able to earn the save (1) and preserve the lead for the Vols 3^rd victory in less than 24 hours.  Hunter Ralls went 2.2 innings pitched allowing one run on two hits while striking out four. 

"Similar to opening weekend, it was good to win close ballgames this weekend" said head coach, Kyle Surprenant.  "Winning these types of games will only make us better once we get into league play and into the tournament.  I thought we pitched it really well as a group and came up with the big hit when we needed it.  Its great to see that we are getting the big hits from guys all the way up and down the line up.  We need a couple good days of practice and will need to be ready to play well again next weekend as we host the annual Logan Classic."