The Lee baseball Flames move into the meat of their Southern States Athletic Conference play hosting a three-game weekend with Shorter College beginning tonight at 6 p.m.

The No. 2-ranked Flames sit atop the SSAC East standings with a conference record of 6-0. After the Shorter series, they will travel to Mt. Vernon, Ga., next weekend to test No. 5-ranked Brewton-Parker College. The following weekend Lee returns to Olympic Field to host Southern Wesleyan, then closes out SSAC regular-season play at Southern Poly in Marietta, Ga.

Shorter visits the Lee campus with an overall record of 30-8. The Hawks’ 4-5 SSAC record places them at No. 4 in the East Division having won seven of their last eight contests. The Hawks bring a solid offensive attack with six of their regular starters batting over .300. As a team, Shorter hits .326, No. 3 in the SSAC just ahead of the Flames ( who stand at .321.

The NAIA released the first regular-season national ranking and the SSAC leading the nation with five teams ranked in the top 25. Lee comes in at No. 2, receiving two first-place votes followed by Brewton-Parker College at No. 5. From the West division, Faulkner University is ranked No. 10 with Southern Polytechnic State University, No.15 and Auburn University-Montgomery, No.21 rounding out the ranked teams. Shorter, Belhaven University and the University of Mobile all received votes in the ranking as well.

The Flames are looking to bounce back from a stunning loss Wednesday night against Bryan College. The Lions snapped the Flames’ 13-game winning streak by mounting an eight-run comeback late to defeat the Flames 10-9.

Following today’s single contest between the Flames and Hawks, the two teams return to Olympic Field Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. Today’s contest, as well as Saturday’s second game, will be broadcast on 1570 WCLE-AM and Stretch Internet. The link to listen online is available on the Lee baseball webpage.