After two thrilling battles resulted in a doubleheaders split on Saturday, Miles hosted Lane in a second doubleheader on Sunday. While the opener produced another one-run margin, the nightcap saw the Golden Bears get a bit more breathing room, winning 3-2 and 9-4 to take the series. Austin Douglas and Will Cantey combined on a 5-hitter in Game 1 while the offense came alive in the second game, pounding out 11 hits.

GAME 1 - Miles 3, Lane 2

For the third straight game, Miles wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. With one out in the bottom of the first, Peyton Caron singled, stole second, made an aggressive tag up on a short fly ball to right field to get to third, then scored on a Jeffrey Wright single to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead.

More heads-up baserunning led to another run in the third. Destin Davidson led off the inning with a single. With Davidson running, Caron grounded out to first base. But the senior shortstop never stopped around the bag at second and moved to third base on the play. With Jacob Bisharat at the plate, Lane pitcher Thomas Arias uncorked a wild pitch that scored Davidson for a 2-0 Miles advantage.

Douglas wasn't in much trouble through the first four innings but ran into a jam in the fifth. A one-out walk to Tavariz Brown put two runners on for Lane for the first time in the game, joining Jahmeal Armstrong, who had led off with a double. Brown would steal second after a Douglas strikeout but a two-out single by Zach Elias plated both runners and tied the game at 2. Miles, though, got the run right back in the bottom of the frame. With two outs, Bisharat nearly left the yard but settled for a triple that slammed off the wall in left center. He would score when Dragons reliever Mario Alston was called for a balk that scored Bisharat and put the Golden Bears back in front.

In the sixth, Lane looked to even the score. But after a leadoff walk, Douglas got a great defensive play from Caron, who snagged a line drive off the bat of Melvin Crayton, who fired across the diamond to double the runner off of first. Two batters later, Douglas struck out Armstrong to get out of the inning. The sophomore hurler allowed a leadoff single to Brown in the seventh, which ended his afternoon, but he went six innings, allowing just five hits and three walks while striking out six.

Cantey would enter and found himself in a bit of a jam. He struck out the first two batters he faced before issuing an intentional walk to Elias. Both Brown and Elias moved up a base on a balk, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. But Cantey was able to get Christian Armstrong to fly out to right to give Miles the win and earn his first save of the season.

GAME 2 - Miles 9, Lane 4

While many of the fireworks in the first three games of the series came late, this game started with a blast. Lane scored four times in the first, getting a 2-run home run from Elias and a two-run single from Pharoah Smith off starter Thomas Hastings. But the Golden Bears responded with three runs in their first trip to the plate. Sacrifice flies by Wright and William Johnson sandwiched a bases-loaded walk to Clifton Orr that cut the Miles deficit to a single run but left it trailing at the end of an inning for just the second time all weekend.

That deficit would be eliminated in the next inning as Miles would score five times, with all eight runs charged to Lane starter Omar Tompkins (0-1). A two-run single by Bisharat was followed by a run-scoring single by Wright. Bases-loaded walks to Gray Humphries and Michael Archie gave the Golden Bears an 8-4 advantage. Miles would add another run in the sixth on a RBI single by Archie for the final margin.

After the first inning, the Golden Bears pitching held Lane at bay. Hastings went 3 1/3, allowing four hits and five walks with three strikeouts. William Hollis (1-1) threw 2 2/3 shutout frames, giving up four hits and striking out four. James Owen entered the game in the seventh with a runner on base and got three quick outs to close out the contest.

UP NEXT

Miles is on the road at Montevallo on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.