Matchup: Lee University (25-24, 16-13 Gulf South) vs University of Montevallo (34-15, 20-9 Gulf South)

Dates: Sunday, May 6th

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Location: Cleveland. Miss. | Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field

Follow: Live Stats | Live Video

Cleveland, Miss. – The University of Montevallo baseball team kicks off the 2018 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championships today with their first game in pool play against the Lee University Flames.  The Falcons and the Flames did not meet in the regular season.

The Falcons and the Flames meet for the first time since the 2000 season when they met in Montevallo for a three-game series.  The Falcons won the series 2-1 and outscored Lee 20-16.  The opening game of the series was an 8-0 victory for the Falcons and then they won game two, 9-8.  The Flames took game three by a score of 3-8 to avoid the series sweep.

With a shot at a regional bid for the first time since 2006, Montevallo is currently ranked No.5 in the latest NCAA South Regional Rankings.

SCOUTING REPORT

The Flames are led at the plate by Miguel Pimentel who currently has a .361 batting average this season.  Pimentel has 65 hits this season and with 19 of them being extra-base hits, including four home runs. 

Howard Jordan and Spencer Mossburg both lead the Flames with 11 home runs this season.  Howard is currently batting .327 while Mossburg is batting .287.

The Falcons are likely to face Pat Morrow or Jumpei Akanuma in the opening game.  Both pitchers have started in 12 games for Lee this season.  Morrow has a 4-0 record with a 3.71 ERA while Akanuma comes into the weekend with a 5-4 record and an ERA of 5.02.

NOTABLES

·         Montevallo is back in the GSC Tournament in their first season back in the conference after playing in the Peach Belt Conference for nine seasons.

·         Under head coach Chandler Rose, the Falcons have been to the conference championship game twice and were on the brink of a third bid in 2016 but fell one game shy in pool play.  Rose is looking to orchestrate a return to the title game with this year's team that enters the championships as the No. 2 seed.

·         The Falcons will start Cas Silber on the mound in the game against Lee University.  Silber is coming off a dominating performance against West Alabama that saw him strikeout 12 batters on his way to his second complete game shutout of the season.