Piedmont comes back to claim GSAC Championship Tournament
April 27, 2008

Piedmont came from behind twice to defeat LaGrange 12-9 in the deciding game of the GSAC Championship Tournament on Sunday at Cleaveland Field. The top-seeded and 11th-ranked Lions (33-10) had forced the final game with a 9-7 win over the Panthers in the day's first game.      

The losses ended the season for the Panthers, who finished 25-19. They were the conference tournament runner-ups for the second straight season. The games were the last for nine LaGrange seniors. Jesse Brown, Lee Fite, Seth Harris, Cory Matticola, Jose Navarro, Justin Phelps, Michael Sims, Jimmy Statler and Seth Tucker all finished their collegiate careers.

The Panthers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the deciding game. After a scoreless two innings, Tyson Sandlin walked to lead off the third. He stole second and went over to third on an error. Sims drove in Sandlin with a single up the middle. The Panthers loaded the bases and Patrick Langley singled to right. The ball was misplayed in the outfield and all three base runners came around to score as Langley ended up on third. He scored the fifth run of the inning as Matticola grounded out.

Piedmont came back with a two-run home run by Evan Nissley in the bottom of the inning off Panther starter Jeff Tucker. The Lions exploded for six runs in the fifth inning to go up 8-5.

The Panthers got a run back in the seventh inning. Langley doubled off Piedmont ace Tom Dimitroff to start the inning. He scored on Statler's two-out single to center to make it 8-6.

In the eighth inning, the Panthers retook the lead. The Panthers loaded the bases with no outs. Langley's sacrifice fly scored Luis Perez, who had walked to lead off the inning. With two outs, Brandon Mahoney singled down the right field line to drive in two runs to put the Panthers up 9-8.

The lead was short lived. The Lions came back with four runs in the bottom of the eighth off Eric Medlock (5-4) and Jonathan Chapman. Nissley had the big blow, a two-run double to break a 9-9 tie. The Lions added another run in the inning to take a 12-9 lead to the ninth.

Dimitroff allowed a leadoff walk to Sandlin in the ninth. He came back to allow only Sims to reach to close out the win for the Lions.

The Panthers finished with 16 hits. Statler was a perfect 4-for-4 with an RBI. Sims had three hits, scored two runs and had an RBI. Langley and Mahoney each had two hits and two RBIs.

In the first game of the day, Piedmont built a 9-2 lead with a six-run fifth inning off reliever Justin Phelps. The Panthers cut the deficit to 9-6 with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Corbin Clinage had a two-run double in the inning. Mahoney reached on a two-out error that allowed two more runs to score.

The Panthers closed out the scoring in the seventh inning. Clinage drove in his third run of the game with a single to score Sandlin to make it 9-7. Dimitroff came on to finish the game for the Lions to pick up his 14th save of the season.

Cody Belt (4-5) took the loss for the Panthers. Rad Mitchell threw four scoreless innings of relief, allowing only three hits.