Piedmont took the first game of a weekend USA South series from LaGrange, winning 11-6 on Friday at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium. The Panthers (18-13, 7-6 USA South) saw their four-game winning streak end. The Lions improved to 17-8 and moved into first place in the conference standings with an 11-2 record.
Piedmont took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Jackson Patrick had a run-scoring single in the second and a two-run base hit in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3 for the Panthers. The Lions came back to take the lead for good with a two-run fifth inning. Austin Jones' RBI hit in the sixth got LC within a run, 5-4. But Piedmont answered with a six-run seventh to go up 11-4. Jack Layrisson's two-run double in the bottom of the inning closed out the scoring.
Ritchie Post (3-3) started and went five innings in taking the loss. He gave up five runs, but only two were earned, walked one and struck out eight. Post was followed by Austin Perez and Zach English. Coston Anderson got the final two outs of the seventh, and Anthony Padovano pitched two scorless innings.
Patrick finished the game with three hits to lead LC's 13-hit attack. Layrisson, Jacob Gassert, McKinley Erves, and James Poropatic all had two hits.
The two teams conclude the series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 2 p.m.
