Davis was one of five Lee hitters with multiple hits with Mike Moore leading the way at 3 for 5. Jorge Saez, Blake Barber, Edmanuel Rivera and Max Harvell each drilled two.
“Corey Davis had two big swings for us and that’s probably the difference in the game,” said Lee head coach Mark Brew. “Overall I’m very pleased with our guys; they did a super job.”
The Flames (36-6-1) opened the scoring in the first with Davis’ first home run, a three-run shot off Cumberland starter Devin Stovall. Cumberland countered with a pair of solo home runs in the bottom half of the first adding another single run in the second.
The Lee bullpen took over from that point using five pitchers to toss seven shutout innings. Mike Fasolo (2-0) earned the pitching win working two innings and allowing one hit. Jose Samayoa worked a perfect ninth inning to earn his fourth save.
The Flames added two runs in the third, again on a home run by Davis and one insurance run in the seventh. All totaled, Davis earned five runs batted in.
“We come in and both teams erupt in the first three innings,” added Brew. “And then a pitchers’ duel broke out. We knew we would have to score a lot of runs here; to be honest I thought it would be more than six, but our guys did a good job on the mound, really good all the way through the bullpen.”
For Cumberland (20-19), Mike Mandarino had three of the team’s five hits including one of the home runs. Cory Urquhart tallied the other long ball with Antonio Butler adding one hit and one RBI.
Stovall took the loss to fall to 1-4 while working 6 2/3 innings. He allowed all six runs, five earned, on 11 hits. Cody Ferrell came on to work a scoreless 2 1/3 innings allowing three hits and striking out three.
David Eskew started for Lee and allowed three runs on three hits in two innings. The junior lefty struck out three to receive no decision.
The Flames will enter the weekend ranked No. 3 in the NAIA and hosting No. 15 Southern Poly for what always proves to be an outstanding weekend series.
“Southern Poly is a great team coming to our park,” added Brew. “They rebounded from some struggles early in the season, but now they are now on a roll.”
“I would say and some of the guys say that this is our biggest rival in the conference. It’s Easter Weekend and Parent’s Weekend, and should be some exciting baseball.”
The Flames and Hornets will clash Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader at noon at Olympic Field.
