Tue, Mar 3, 2009 - [Baseball]
MURRAY, Ky. - For the second time in four games, the Freed-Hardeman Lions rallied in the ninth inning but came up just a little short.
This time, it was against NCAA Division I Murray State (Ky.) University in a game added to the schedule just a couple of days before it was played. FHU scored twice in the ninth and had the bases loaded before the Racers' Lucas Allen got Leo Alvarez to pop up to end the game with Murray State taking an 8-6 win.
The Racers got to Freed-Hardeman starter Javy Gomez (0-1) early, chasing him after the first inning with three runs. They followed with three more off of Joey Gildea in the next two innings to build a 6-2 lead after three.
But as they did last week against Huntington (Ind.), the Lions slowly chipped away at the deficit by getting runs in the fourth inning on a Noslen Labrada RBI groundout and in the seventh on an RBI single by Daniel Peck.
Murray State added some padding to its lead in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8-4 lead into the final inning. That's when FHU made things quite interesting.
Brian Bullard singled with two outs to load the bases after Angel Nicolas led off with a single and Noslen Labrada reached on an error. Willy Hernandez then drew a bases-loaded walk; Michael Clayton followed with an RBI single to pull FHU within two runs. However, Alvarez barely missed driving the ball deep into the outfield on an 0-2 count, popping up to shortstop to end the game.
The Lions (8-5) open up conference play this weekend at Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) on Friday.
