Cleveland, Tenn. - The LSUS Pilots bounced back from their first defeat in the Region XIII Tournament on Friday afternoon to defeat the AUM Senators, 9-7, Friday night and advance to the Championship game tomorrow afternoon versus Lee University.

Freshman Justin Ennis pitched 8 2/3 innings to pick up the win, while Victor Hernandez recorded the final out on the mound for the Pilots, as AUM had the tying and winning runs on base.

LSUS jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the top of the second, but AUM rallied with four runs of their own to take a 4-2 lead after two.

The Pilots answered back with single runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to grab a one-run lead, but the lead was short-lived as Chase Burch hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to give AUM a 6-5 advantage.

However, the Pilots did not fold and put two more runs on the board in the sixth, and then added some insurance in the eighth inning when Andrew Blubaugh blasted a two-run home run to put the Pilots up by three. 

The Senators scored run one in the bottom of the ninth and threatened with two outs and the bases loaded before Hernandez got Allen Ponder to pop out to shallow center field to end the game.

Ennis gave up just five hits and two earned run, while improving to 7-3 on the mound this season and Hernadez picked up his second save on the year.

Jeff Ledet had three hits and three RBIs in the win, while Bryan Stebbings also added three hits in the contest.

LSUS (47-15) will now face the No. 1 seed Lee Flames (56-8) in the Region XIII Championship tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.  The Flames defeated the Pilots, 6-2, handing them their only loss of the tournament on Friday afternoon.

Tomorrow's championship tilt can be heard live over the internet by visiting the LSUS Baseball Website and clicking the Teamline link on the left side of the page.