PENSACOLA, Fla. — The University of Alabama in Huntsville baseball team opened play at the 2021 NCAA Division II South Regional as the fifth seed with a 4-1 loss to second-seeded Lee on Thursday afternoon at Jim Spooner Field. UAH dips to 22-19, while LU improves to 35-9.
UAH moves on to play on Friday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game against the loser of tonight's matchup between No. 1 seed West Florida and No. 6 seed Shorter.
Kody Keiser made his ninth start of the season on the mound for the Chargers, as the southpaw tossed 6.2 innings with three runs allowed, two strikeouts and one walk. He took the loss to drop his season record to 2-3.
After scoreless innings in the first and second by both sides, UAH went on the board in the top of the third with one run on an RBI double down by Garrett Bodine the left field line that scored Tyler McCown from first.
Lee rebounded in the bottom half of the third with a pair of runs off Keiser to take a 2-1 advantage.
The pitcher's duel took its footing from the fourth through the sixth inning as both squads went scoreless in those frames, until a solo home run by LU's Landon Silver in the seventh extended the Flames lead to 3-1.
An RBI single in the bottom of the eighth by Colton Yeagar brought the game to its 4-1 final score.
Lee's Logan Workman earned the win on the mound for the Flames, working 8.0 innings with one run allowed and nine strikeouts. Andy Rivera picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.
This is UAH's seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA tournament, and the first NCAA South Regional game against Gulf South Conference foe Lee.