Led by a strong effort from Damion Coleman, the Shawnee State baseball program played right with the Freed-Hardeman Lions' baseball program for eight innings, holding a 4-1 advantage through four innings of play before eight unanswered runs by Freed-Hardeman -- including four in the final inning -- allowed the Lions to grab a 9-4 victory over the Bears Friday afternoon at Branch Rickey Park in Portsmouth.

Bottom half of order produces

Shawnee State (5-6, 1-2 MSC) struck early in the second inning and continued to enjoy a solid offensive performance due to the production of its five-through-eight hole hitters.

Following a leadoff single by Levi Jones to begin the second frame, Damion Coleman's big fly on an 0-2 count allowed Shawnee State to jump ahead to a 2-0 lead.

Freed-Hardeman answered with a run each in the top of the third and fourth innings off of solo home runs by Hunter Beecham and Dylan Lott, but the Bears answered with two runs in their own in the bottom half of the fourth as back-to-back singles by Danny McGuire and Kyle Gammon to lead off SSU's side of the fourth allowed the pair to score on a Freed-Hardeman misplay, giving the Bears its four-run cushion.

Over the final five frames, however, Freed-Hardeman put together six extra base hits, including home runs by Dylan Lott, Ben Simpson, and Brady Harris en route to turning the tilt around in the Lions' favor.

Coleman (2-for-4, double, home run, two RBI, walk, run scored) and McGuire (2-for-4, run scored) led the Bears' offensive output.

NEXT UP

SSU plays Freed-Hardeman in a doubleheader that commences at 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

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