SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Paine College baseball team struggled in their series opener Saturday afternoon against Armstrong State University falling 17-8 at Pirate Field in Savannah, Georgia.

The Lions loss drops them to 0-4 in the young season while the Pirates improve to 3-2.

ASU got on the board early and often as they mounding a 16-2 leading before the PC bats came alive. Armstrong State scored four runs in the first, single runs in the second and fourth innings and blew the game open with three runs each in the fifth and sixth and closed out their scoring with five funs in the sixth.

Paine scored single runs in the fourth and sixth inning before mounting a strong inning, scoring five runs in the seventh inning and one in the ninth. The Lions got strong performances from Adam Martin who finished 2-for-5, a homerun and three RBI while Jaron Johnson was 3-for-5 from the plate including an RBI double. Jazhiel Morel continued his hot hitting with two hits and an RBI in the loss.

Evan Krenz (0-2) picked up the loss for the Lions after giving 12 runs on 14 hits. He struck-out three and walked four in his four innings of work. Hardvis Batista threw four innings of relief and allowed five runs on six hits while walking five.

Both teams return to action tomorrow morning for a double-header beginning at 11 a.m.