DEMOREST, Ga. -- No. 17 Piedmont scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth inning to pull away for an 8-2 win over the Covenant baseball team on Friday night at Loudermilk Field in game one of a three-game USA South series.
Covenant drops to 12-16 on the year and 5-10 in league play. Piedmont, ranked 17th in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, is now 22-6 overall and 12-3 in the USA South.
Tyler Moore had two hits in four at-bats for the Scots and helped tie the game in the third inning. Covenant had six hits on the night against Piedmont left-hander Sam Carpenter as Alex Gonzalez, John Mitchell, Lewis Saunders, and Tommy Easley all had one hit.
Piedmont scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead, but the Scots answered with a run in both the second and third innings. The Scots took advantage of a Piedmont error to start the second as Hunter Christian reached second base before Mitchell drove him home with an RBI single. Covenant then tied the game in the third inning when Moore, who singled with one out, scampered home on a Carpenter wild pitch.
The host Lions broke the tie in the fourth when Evan Meade tripled home a run and a Scots error allowed another to score to give Piedmont a 4-2 lead.
Piedmont then added two runs in the fifth and tacked on two more in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Carpenter (6-0) went 7.1 innings for Piedmont and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with 10 strikeouts. Carter Ballstadt tossed the final 1.2 innings to secure the win for the Lions.
Jackson Heuer (3-2) made his second straight series-opening start for Covenant and went five innings. Heuer picked up the loss as he allowed five earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. Adam Carver came on in relief to throw three innings.
Piedmont had 11 hits in the game, led by Tyler Sheley and Tyler Burdette with three each. Andrew Burden and Burdette had two RBIs apiece.
UP NEXT
The final two games of the series are set for Saturday in Demorest. Game one of the doubleheader is set for 2 p.m.
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