The Oglethorpe baseball team dropped a non-conference game at Piedmont Wednesday night, falling to the home-standing Lions in Demorest, Ga., 9-3.

Oglethorpe fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but came back in the third with two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Catcher Hunter Riley started the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Then, after two Petrel outs, right fielder Nick Manai reached on an error and Riley scored on the play, tying the game. Manai stole second base, which proved big when designated hitter Jeff Brothers singled later in the at-bat. Manai scored on the play and gave the Petrels the lead.

However, Piedmont re-tied the score in the bottom half of the inning, then scored three more in the fifth to open up a 5-2 lead. 

The Petrels answered with another run of their own in the sixth. Brothers and Dearden led off the inning with back-to-back hits, a single for Brothers and a double for Dearden. Two batters later, Brothers scored on a Lion wild pitch to cut the Piedmont lead to 5-3. 

But that was the final run the Petrels would score for the game, and Piedmont put the game away in the bottom half of the inning with four more runs. 

Both teams used a smorgasboard of pitchers during this midweek, non-conference contest. Freshman Sam Franklin started the game for Oglethorpe, and came away with no decision after allowing a run on two hits over two innings of work. Fellow freshman Kolin Zimmer pitched the fifth and suffered the loss, allowing three runs on three hits over the single inning of work.

Brothers went 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run, while Dearden posted a 2-for-4 night.

The loss drops the Petrels to 5-19 on the season. They return home this weekend for a three-game SAA series against Centre. The first two games will take place Saturday as part of a doubleheader that gets underway at 2 p.m. The final game of the series will be Sunday at 1 p.m.