FROM STAFF REPORTS

The University of Montevallo baseball team picked up a huge 8-4 win over in-state rival and former Gulf South Conference foe University of North Alabama in a mid-week game Feb. 22.

North Alabama entered the game ranked No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Division II poll.

The Falcons (6-5) were led by senior Josh Dabbs, who went 3-for-5 at the plate with a homerun, three RBIs and three runs scored.

Sophomore Austin Dubberly, a Pelham graduate, was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a sacrifice fly.

Montevallo also got RBIs from junior Chris Ross, a Pelham graduate, sophomore Devon Davis and freshman Pablo Martell.

Montevallo freshman Alex Guilford picked up his second win of the season as he went 6 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and just one walk. Guilford scattered three runs across the six innings he pitched and allowed just one extra base hit.

UNA jumped on the scoreboard early in the first inning, as a two-out solo homerun gave the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Montevallo answered in the second inning as Martell hit a single to right field to score Davis, who had reached earlier with a single. UNA retook the lead in the top of the third inning with a single run, but Montevallo answered once again in the bottom half as Dubberly hit a sacrifice fly to score Dabbs followed by a ground-out RBI by Davis to score junior Heath Peterson.

The Falcons tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning as Dabbs singled through the right side to score freshman Alec Stiver, who had reached with a single. Dubberly then hit an RBI single through the left side to score Dabbs.

In the sixth inning, the Falcons scored two more runs as junior Josh Headley hit a one-out triple down the right-field line. After another out, Dabbs hit a two-run bomb over the right-field fence to give the Falcons a 7-2 lead.

UNA picked up one more run in the seventh inning before Montevallo answered with another run of its own in the bottom half. Ross hit a RBI single to score Dubberly and put the Falcons ahead 8-3.

UNA scored its final run of the game in the top of the ninth inning before sophomore pitcher Will Dismukes was able to get a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.