COLUMBUS, Ga. -- In the opening round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon, the No. 6 seed Reinhardt College baseball team upset the No. 3 seeded Lee University Flames -- ranked eighth nationally in the NAIA -- by the score of 6-5 in 12 innings in a game that lasted four hours and 18 minutes. The double-elimination tournament is being held at the Golden Park Complex.  

Reinhardt posted the game-winning run when Brett Flick hit an RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning, scoring freshman Blaine Martin.

Lee took a 1-0 lead with a run in the third inning before the Eagles tied the contest in the fourth. Each team scored one run in the fifth inning but Reinhardt went ahead 5-2 with a three-run sixth. The Flames, last year's NAIA national runner-up, battled back to tie the game by scoring once in the eighth inning and twice in the ninth, sending it into extra innings and setting the stage for Flick's heroics.

Each squad finished with seven hits. Reinhardt benefitted from 12 walks by Lee pitchers while the Flames drew 10 bases on balls. Each club had 11 strikeouts and the Eagles made four of the contest's seven errors. Lee stranded 15 base runners and Reinhardt 13.

"It was one of those crazy games, for sure," Eagles head coach Bill Popp said. "We were at the ballpark seven hours for one game. We used a lot to try to win that game, so we knew how important it was."

For the winners, Robby Hearn collected two hits, including a double, and scored a run while Flick finished 1-for-3 with two walks. Brad Blalock hit a home run, walked and scored twice while Joe Niehoff singled, walked two times and drove in a run. Jeremy Roberts had a hit and drew a pair of bases on balls while Brent Martin ended with a single and two sacrifice bunts. Freshman Michael Lonati scored twice while Jarrod Willis contributed an RBI and was hit by a pitch. Blaine Martin also reached base after being plunked by a pitch before scoring the game-winner.

Reinhardt used six pitchers during the afternoon. Freshman Matt Barger was Reinhardt's starting hurler and allowed just one hit and one earned run with eight strikeouts over four innings. Ricky Johnson, Drew Tyson, Michael Willis, Ben Gonglach and Daniel Hester all pitched in relief with Hester claiming the victory. Hester did not give up a hit or run in the final two innings.

The Eagles improve to 29-21 overall while the Flames dip to 45-11. Reinhardt will take on the winner of tonight's game between the No. 7 seeded Southern Wesleyan University Warriors and No. 2 seeded Southern Polytechnic State University Runnin' Hornets on Thursday at 7 p.m. Southern Poly is ranked sixth in the country.