YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball lost a heartbreaker in the bottom of the ninth to Young Harris College, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon in Young Harris, Tennessee. The Screaming Eagles move their record to 7-5 to start the year, while the Mountain Lions go to 13-7.
After spotting Young Harris a run in the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles bats ignited for a three-run fifth to lead, 3-1. USI junior rightfielder
Manny Lopez (Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico) put the Eagles up, 2-1, with a two-run single with one out, while sophomore leftfielder
Aaron Euler (Evansville, Indiana) pushed across the third run on a fielder's choice.
The Mountain Lions bounced back to retake the lead, 4-3, in the bottom of the seventh with a three spot. USI evened the score, 4-4, in the top of the eighth on a home run by Euler, his first round tripper of the season and his Eagles career.
In the ninth, junior right-hander
Peter Wissel (New Castle, Indiana) took the loss after walking the only batter he faced and before giving way to junior left-hander
Paul Perez (Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela). Perez followed, allowing a hit and an intentional walk before walking in the winning run on a 3-2 count.
USI junior right-hander
Tyler Hagedorn (Evansville, Indiana) got the start and a no-decision for the Eagles. Hagedorn allowed one run on six hits, striking out one, in the five innings of his first start of the year.
Up Next for the Eagles:
The Eagles resumes their travels when they return to the Midwest and visit Drury University for a three-game set March 9-10 to open the 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference campaign. The series schedule at Drury has changed due to weather, resulting in a 3 p.m. single game Saturday and a noon doubleheader Sunday in Springfield, Missouri.
Drury fell to 6-8 overall after suffering a 4-3 loss to the University of Central Missouri today in Warrensburg, Missouri.
USI leads the all-time series with Drury, 21-8, and have not played the Panthers since 2016 when the Eagles took two-of-three non-conference games at the USI Baseball Field. The last time USI played Drury in a GLVC setting was in 2014 when the Eagles won both games of a doubleheader at home.
