SAINT LEO, Fla. - The University of West Georgia Baseball team fell just short of an upset on Wednesday, dropping a non-conference contest to the seventh ranked Saint Leo Lions, 8-7.

West Georgia (14-13, 7-5 GSC) out-hit Saint Leo (22-3, 7-2 SSC) 13-9 but walked eight batters which ultimately made the difference in the ball game.

Ronny Piepmeier got the start in a bullpen game for the Wolves and sat down the Lions in order in the first.

West Georgia struck first in the ball game as a two-out walk and an infield single from Michael Rich brought Jackson Webb to the plate. Webb blooped in a single to right center, scoring Ladner to put UWG up 1-0.

After Piepmeier breezed through the second inning, the Wolves threatened again in the top of the third as they had runners at second and third with no one, but couldn't drive them in, keeping the score at 1-0. 

In the top of the fourth, Sam Ladner extended West Georgia's lead to two with a solo home run to left field, before Saint Leo got on the board in their half of the inning.

After three perfect innings from Piepmeier, head coach Jeff Smith went to his bullpen, brining in Jake Jordan.

Jordan immediately found himself in trouble as the Lions put runners on first and second with no one out. An RBI-single from Saint Leo's Luke Houin cut the Wolves' lead to one before a sacrifice fly from Zach Benson tied the game at two.

After surrendering the lead in the fourth, UWG responded in the fifth as an RBI-single from Jared Emory scored Walt McConnell to put West Georgia back up one. In the bottom half, the back-and-forth action continued as a two-run double from Saint Leo's Josh Davis put the Lions back in front, 4-3.

Down one in the sixth, the Wolves tied the game once again courtesy of an RBI-single from Cade Hohl before Saint Leo put together their best inning of work at the plate in the bottom of the sixth.

The Lions scored three runs in the inning to take their largest lead of the night at 7-4.

Jonathan Hickman was called on to finish out the sixth and continued his work into the seventh where he retired the Lions in order, bringing the West Georgia bats back up to the plate. 

Hohl and Prince began the eighth inning with singles, setting the stage for Luke Hatcher. Hatcher hit a ball deep into the right center gap, scoring Hohl and Prince before scoring himself after an errant throw to tie the game at seven.

In the bottom of the eighth, Brady Simpson got the ball and surrendered an RBI-single, putting the Lions up 8-7 as the game progressed to the top of the ninth.

In the ninth, the Wolves went down 1-2-3 as Saint Leo secured an 8-7 win.

McConnell recorded three hits while Michael Rich, Webb, and Hohl all recorded two hits along a with an RBI.

West Georgia will now return to GSC play this weekend as they travel to Livingston, Alabama for a three-game series against West Alabama.