(Story taken from the Millsaps College website)
JACKSON, Miss. -- Trailing 8-5 entering the
bottom of the seventh inning, Millsaps rallied for seven unanswered
runs over the final two innings to defeat LaGrange 12-8 in its
season-opener and earn head coach Jim Page his 500th career
victory.
"What's so neat about it is seeing some of the former guys come
back and them being excited for me," Page said. "I look at
the guys who've been with me for a long time and what they give to
this program and it's incredible. What I'll remember
about No. 500 is all the memories of the players we've
had, the coaching staff's, the administration and the support
of our fans."
Starter Aaron Williams
and Millsaps jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the game's opening
three innings, with Williams retiring the first five batters he
faced and Will Hawkins
adding a pair of RBI doubles to contribute to the offense.
LaGrange (0-1) settled in after falling behind early, using senior
Ben Hudson's 2-run shot to right center to pull within two and then
getting an RBI-single down the leftfield line from Tyson Sandlin to
cut it to 5-4 after four innings.
The Panthers then took their first lead of the game in the fifth
inning behind a Michael Sanders 2-run home run to right center
before scoring single runs in the sixth and seventh for an 8-5
lead. Starter Jeff Tucker was pulled to start the sixth,
rebounding after a rocky start to toss two shutout
innings, including a mistake free fourth and fifth innings.
Millsaps (1-0) was held to just one hit from the fourth
through sixth innings but clawed its way back to 8-7 after
scoring a pair of runs in the seventh thanks to a Josh
Ordeneaux fielder's choice.
Sophomore Tony
Malaschak's leadoff triple to start the eighth was the spark
the Majors needed. Sandlin, the rightfielder for LaGrange,
lost the high fly ball to right in the lights and to Malaschak's
credit he never quit running on the play.
"We teach our guys to run hard all the time," Page said.
"If Tony Malaschak doesn't run out that play then the
game could have finished completely different and Hunter Owen
doesn't tie the game on a sacrifice fly the next play. Doing
the little things right is a good sign for this team."
The Majors would go on to score four more runs in the frame off a
pair of RBI-walks and a pinch hit single from Tyler Berry to
retake the lead at 12-8. Reliever Curt Ellison lasted just a
1/3 of the inning after surrendering five runs (two earned) and was
chased after facing just six batters.
LaGrange went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning and Millsaps earned the
come-from-behind win.
Senior Drew Maddox,
who entered with one out in the fifth inning, scattered eight hits,
four strikeouts and just two runs over the final 4 2/3 innings to
earn his seventh career victory and first of the 2009
season.
Hawkins led the Majors offensively with a 3-for-5 afternoon and two
RBIs, while both Hudson and Robbie Shelton added three hits apiece
for visiting LaGrange.
Millsaps will continue a stretch of six games in six days tomorrow,
hosting the University of the Ozarks (Ark.). First pitch is
set for 11:30 a.m. and can be seen live on www.atwsportscast.com.