Taylor Hodges, Sports Information Director

Corinth, Miss. – After a massive grand slam by De'Mikyle Holmes in the bottom of the sixth inning of game three to take the lead, the No. 2 Lions (3-4) were able to win game three of the four-game series against No. 22 Indiana Institute of Technology (2-1) on Saturday after dropping game two earlier in the day 8-5.

The visiting Warriors took and early 1-0 lead in the top of the first after a sacrifice fly moved the runner from second base and a wild throw by Holmes from right field to third base allowed the run to come in to score.

Freed-Hardeman quickly tied it back up in the bottom of the third before Indiana Tech would go back up in the following inning.

That is when Christian Busby came up to the plate and hit a towering two-run shot – his second of the season – over the left-field wall to put the Lions back on top 3-2. That was before the Warriors would score two runs of their own in the top of the sixth.

The Lions would regain the lead and not give it up when Holmes came to the plate with the bases juiced and two outs on the board. He gave the bat one big swing and knew immediately that it was gone as he tossed his bat back towards the dugout and pumped his head towards his teammates.

It was a massive weekend overall for the Freed-Hardeman bullpen, and Saturday afternoon was no different.

Landon Sewell came on in relief for Jacob Sawyers in the sixth inning and struck out four batters en route to the win.

In game two of the series and game one of Saturday's double-header, the visiting Warriors jumped out to a quick lead over the hosts with a two-run homerun from Branson Dossen in the top of the first inning, followed by an RBI triple from Jake DeFries in the second inning and an RBI single by Jacob Alvidrez in the third. Indiana Institute of Technology led 7-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning.

The visitors took out their starter, Charles Dunavan, early in the bottom of the fourth inning after the Lions were able to get one run back in the third. The Lions' bats woke up, scoring four runs in the inning behind a bases-clearing triple from Holmes. That put the Lions down two heading into the fifth inning.

The Warriors would grab one more run in the top of the sixth, and that lead would stand as the visitors won game two of the series 8-5, sealing the series win.

Austin Steel got the start on the mound for the Lions, but was replaced by Tyler Duskin in the fourth inning. Duskin would finish out the last six innings with five strikeouts and only one earned run.

The Lions will be back at Carnes Field Tuesday when they take on Blue Mountain College in a double-header, with the first game starting at 1 p.m.