DEMOREST, Ga (March 13, 2018)  – Senior Andrew Hamel scattered two hits over five innings, but the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team fell to Piedmont College, 2-0 Tuesday in a non-conference game played at Loudermilk Field. It was the second-ever meeting between the programs.

Sophomore Patrick Rood reached base three times for the Ducks, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a close. 

Noah Heatherly walked twice, scored a run and drove in a run for Piedmont, who improved to 12-6 on the year. Stevens fell to 4-5.

In his first start of the season, Hamel (0-1) allowed one run on two hits over five innings. The tall left-hander struck out seven. 

"Overall, it was a good ballgame, although it never is fun to put up a 0 on the offensive side. Andrew Hamel pitched well enough to win and Roy Iversen and Chandler Brierley provided some quality relief out of the bullpen to keep us close."

Coming into the game with 19 runs over their last three contests, the hot-hitting Ducks had an opportunity to jump on the board in the opening inning. Senior Tommy Baronner led the game off with a single, but was quickly erased on a double play. Freshman Thomas Paulich walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Senior Alex Detweiler walked, but Ryan Cox (1-0) was able to retire Rood on a flyout to right to end the threat. It would be the only time Rood didn't reach base on the evening. Cox allowed five hits over six innings and struck out eight.

After walking the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Hamel struck out Andrew Burden for the first out of the inning. Heatherly lofted a sacrifice fly to center to plate the game's first run. Freshman catcher Nathan Zuckerman nabbed Justin Groover trying to steal third for the final out of the inning.

Piedmont added an insurance run in the sixth off freshman Roy Iversen.

Brady Ballstadt led off with a single, but was promptly caught stealing by Zuckerman. Burden struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. Heatherly walked. Tyler Burdette singled and both runners advanced a base on an error. Heatherly would come around to score on a passed ball to give the hosting Lions a 2-0 lead. Iversen struck out Henderson to strand Burdette at third.

Stevens had runners in scoring position in both the fourth and sixth innings, but were unable to push a run home.

Buddy Green worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn his first save of the year.

Sophomore Chandler Brierley relieved Iversen and pitched a perfect eighth in his second appearance of the season.

Freshman Matthew Schmidt made his collegiate debut as a defensive replacement in the eighth.

Up Next: Stevens travels to LaGrange, Georgia for a matchup with nationally-ranked LaGrange College on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.

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