VALDOSTA -- Major league baseball scouts came to Bazemore Field Wednesday to see Lincoln (Fla.) Tallahassee pitcher Joe Bauserman dominate in the Wildcat Invitational.
For six innings they got what they came to see in Lincoln's 4-3 win over Lowndes High in eight innings.
Bauserman battled with Vikings' starter Clay Hamm for six innings, staking his Trojans to a 2-1 lead heading into the seventh.
Leading 2-1, Lincoln catcher Kyle Delvecchio's bloop single to left scored pinch hitter Mike Carswell, knocking Hamm from the game in the seventh.
Hamm went six innings, allowing three runs, only two of which were earned, and struck out five on 88 pitches. Lowndes reliever Brandon Smith got out of a bases-loaded jam to hold Lincoln to just one run in the inning.
"Clay threw well and that's what we've got to have," Vikings' head coach Danny Redshaw said. "It was a good baseball game. The only down part was that we lost. Besides that, [there were] a lot of positives."
Lowndes spoiled Bauserman's bid for a no-hitter in the seventh when Matt Harper singled to center. The Vikings then took away a win from the Ohio State football signee, tying the game at 3-3 on Jake Summers two-out double to right, scoring Matt Harper and Derek Newham.
Bauserman, whose heater registered 91-92 miles per hour on the radar guns, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on two hits to go along with 10 strikeouts.
"That guy is as good as we'll see," Redshaw said of Bauserman, who'll decide between college football and baseball depending on where he's selected in this summer's major league draft.
With Bauserman gone, Bo Love singled to center for what looked like the winning run, but Lincoln centerfield Ricky Moulton's laser throw home beat pinch runner Wesley Weldon to the plate and sent the game to extras.
"The kid made a great throw," Redshaw said. "You got a run there and [Moulton] threw it on the money. That's baseball. They made one more big play than we did."
Lincoln (3-3) came back with a run in the top of the eighth when Bryan Kendricks's liner deflected off Kalen Grant's glove, scoring Tyler Davis from second to put the Trojans' ahead 4-3.
In the bottom of the eighth, Shaun Riddle singled and R.J. Harris walked to put runners on first and second with no out, but Lowndes failed to come up with another game-tying hit and dropped to 1-4 on the season.
