Lee rises to No. 1 in NAIA, bashes Bryan 19-7

The Lee University baseball team moved up Tuesday to No. 1 in the NAIA Top 25 rankings. The 2010 World Series runner-up had been No. 2 since the preseason poll last fall.

Then Tuesday evening at Dayton, the Flames scored the first nine runs and beat Bryan 19-7 in a game with seven home runs. Lee (39-7) had four of the homers.

Former Baylor School standout Michael Brown was 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and four RBIs, and Justin Marrero homered and singled and drove in five runs. Preston Scoggins also homered and was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Joe Ramirez scored three runs and batted in three. Seth Walker had two hits and two RBIs, and Jonathan Clark and Roberto Reyes each had two hits and scored twice for Lee.

Dewayne Boyd was 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for the Lions (22-18), and Jonathan Davis was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Josh Harris also homered for Bryan.

Tennessee Wesleyan's scheduled early-afternooon game against Tennessee Temple at Ooltewah High School was called off because of wet grounds.

* Covenant 11, Birmingham-Southern 9: On Lookout Mountain, David Lockwood went 4-for-4, scored two runs and drove in two as the Scots pulled out the NCAA Division III win.

Taylor Oldham was 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and three RBIs and James Rollins hit a two-run home run for Covenant (18-11). Chris Rollins tripled and singled, batted in two runs and scored two, and Jared Carlson doubled and singled and scored twice. Relief pitcher Brian Simons got an eight-pitch win, and Demarius Johnson got the save with five strikeouts in two innings.

* Wallace State 10, Cleveland State 4: At Cleveland, Chazz Otwell was 4-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBIs for the Alabama junior college. Gray Hutchinson homered and scored twice for Cleveland State (20-19). Austin Townes also homered for the Cougars and was 2-for-4 along with Grant Zawadzki and Colin Sullivan.

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