Baseball Recap (Week 11) - Around the SCAC

Baseball Recap (Week 11) - Around the SCAC
Posted: Apr 19, 2010

SUWANEE, Ga. - The 2010 SCAC Baseball Tournament field is set. Six teams will play for the league's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship this weekend. Trinity takes on Oglethorpe in game one, followed by Millsaps battling Rhodes and the final matchup pits DePauw against Austin College.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College went 1-2 last week, falling 6-3 to UT-Tyler before splitting a pair of games with the University of Dallas, taking game one 14-6 thanks to a 10 run first inning before falling 9-8 in extra innings in game two, despite jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the first two innings. Andy White and Jordan Robison had a huge week at the plate, with White hitting .600 with six runs scored and Robison hitting .556 with two home runs, a double and six RBI. Tyler Appelquist and Mason Leech also did well at the dish. Leech hit .500 while Appelquist hit .429, and Brian Buehler had a double and five runs batted in. Austin College closes out the regular season on Tuesday with a game against UT-Dallas before heading to Millington, Tenn. for the SCAC Championship.

No. 6 Birmingham-Southern went 5-0 this week, including a series sweep at Oglethorpe on Saturday and Sunday. The Panthers traveled up to Maryville on Wednesday to make up a rain out from earlier in the year and defeated the Scots 4-3 and 12-10 before rolling into the three-gamer with Oglethorpe. The Panther offense was kicking on all cylinders against the Petrels, scoring a combined 42 runs in the series. BSC took game one 16-5, game two 15-2, and game three 11-6. The wins push the Panthers’ record to 33-4, 14-1 and the current winning streak to 17 games, the longest of the season, with two games to play. They will wrap up the season this weekend with a split double header with Emory. Game one will be at 12:15 in Birmingham with game two in Atlanta at 1:00. 

Centre dropped its last SCAC series of the year to DePauw falling twice in three games. The two teams opened the series with a 79 minute game in which there were only six total hits as the Colonels won 3-2. DePauw the scored 19 runs on 29 hits in the final two games to win 9-5 and 10-0. Centre, now 10-20 overall and 5-10, will host Berea Tuesday.

DePauw posted a 2-2 record last week including a 2-1 series win at Centre to clinch the East Division's top seed for the SCAC Tournament. DePauw opened the week with an 8-7 loss at Wabash and opened the Centre series with a 3-2 loss. The Tigers then topped Centre 9-5 and closed out the series on Sunday with a 10-0 win. DePauw hit .331 for the week and held the opposition to just a .261 average. In the Centre series alone, the Tigers hit .348 and held the Colonels to a .220 average. Sam Linette, Alex Jacques and Alex Berlyn each hit .500 for the week, while Rob McPike drove in six runs in the four games. Elliott Ross improved to 8-1 and won his eighth straight game with Sunday's shutout win. Brad Gerlach allowed just one unearned run in six innings, but suffered a 3-2 defeat.

Hendrix suffered a pair of come-from-behind losses to SCAC foe Southwestern over the weekend. The Pirates took the season series with a 4-1 record against the Warriors in 2010. Hendrix and in-state rival University of the Ozarks traded a pair of comeback decisions with mid-week games on Tuesday and Thursday. The Warriors will now take a 17-18 overall record into its final game of the season against Rust College on Tuesday afternoon. Ozarks rallied for five runs on five hits and an error in the top of the ninth inning to earn a 12-10 come-from-behind victory over Hendrix on Tuesday evening at Warrior Field. Hendrix senior second baseman Matt Gaglio was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two runs batted in and sophomore third baseman Kyle Raskin tagged his first home run of the year to lead the Warriors to an 11-9 comeback victory over Ozarks at Lonnie Qualls Field on Thursday afternoon.  

Millsaps dropped its only contest of the week, a 12-0 run-rule loss to cross-town rival Belhaven in the final game of the 2010 Maloney Series. The Majors had not previously been shut out in a game since a 5-0 seven-inning loss to Austin College at home March 17, 2007, a stretch of 154 games. In the Jim Page era, Millsaps has been held scoreless in only 20 games dating back to the 1989 season. Chris Bennett of the Blazers pitched a complete game shutout scattering three hits to pick up the win. The Majors threatened in the first inning loading the bases after Jules Roussel and Will Hawkins hit a pair of singles followed by a walk to Tyler Berry. Millsaps could not take advantage as Jake Mills grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning. The Majors were scheduled to close out the regular season with a three-game series at Trinity University over the weekend to decide the SCAC West Division title but were unable to play the games due to weather conditions. Having already clinched a spot in the SCAC Tournament, the Majors will enter as the No. 2 seed from the West and open with Rhodes on Thursday, April 22, at 3:30 p.m.

Oglethorpe had a tough week, going 0-5 in games against Huntingdon, Emory and Birmingham-Southern. Oglethorpe began the week with a 10-2 loss at Huntingdon last Tuesday. The Hawks broke open a tight game with 6 runs in the bottom of the eighth to earn the win over the Petrels. Senior Stephen Archer provided the lone offensive spark for the Diamond Petrels in connecting for his sixth homerun of the season. On Wednesday, the Petrels were bested by Emory, 8-6. Birmingham-southern managed a 3-game sweep of the Petrels over the weekend though the scores were not indicative of how close the games actually were. In Game one, the Petrels trailed the Panthers 6-4 heading into the 7th inning before 10 BSC runs broke the game open. In Game 3, Oglethorpe held a 6-5 lead going into the 9th inning before the Panthers rallied for 6 runs to take the victory and the sweep. The Petrels are now 19-20 on the season and will face LaGrange on Tuesday night before heading to Millington to face Trinity in the first game of the SCAC Tournament on Thursday at 12 p.m.

Rhodes went 3-2 this week, taking two of three from Sewanee in the final conference series of the year. With the first victory over Sewanee, Rhodes clinched a birth to this weekend’s conference tournament in Millington, Tenn. Rhodes also knocked off Rust on Thursday 12-5 and fell to Millsaps 10-3 on Wednesday. Junior Hunter Chandler had his best performance of the year during the first game on Saturday, throwing a complete game shutout striking out seven, allowed six hits, no walks over seven innings. The Lynx offense was led by junior 1B/DH Brent Lindsey who hit .338 (7-18) during the week, with eight RBI, four runs, a home run, double, and three walks. Junior C Chris Conkell hit .500 (6-12) with three RBI, two runs scored, and two doubles. Rhodes will open play in the 2010 SCAC conference tournament at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday against Millsaps. 

Sewanee closed out its 2010 conference play Sunday with a big 16-6 win over rival Rhodes. The Lynx picked up both ends of a doubleheader from the Tigers on Saturday. On Sunday, Chase Reimer picked up the win in relief of senior Logan Ray. The Tigers out hit the Lynx 15-9. Taylor Irwin led the hit parade for the Tigers going 4-for-5 on the day with three doubles and thee RBI. Blake Williams picked up three hits. Chris Mauro and Michael Joseph had two hits each. Sewanee is 7-26 overall and completes SCAC play at 2-13. The Tigers will wrap up the 2010 season on Tuesday when they host Piedmont College in an afternoon doubleheader beginning at noon.

Southwestern closed out its season with a two road losses and two home wins this week. On Tuesday the Pirates traveled to Abilene to face Hardin-Simmons University in a non-conference double header. SU fell 5-2 in game one and 15-7 in game two. As Southwestern returned home for their final games of the season they got off to a slow start on Saturday against Hendrix, falling behind 9-0 after five and a half innings. The Pirates would not allow the Warriors the win, however as SU put up five runs in the bottom of the sixth and then four in the eighth tying the game 9-9. After holding HC scoreless in the ninth Southwestern stepped to the plate and with one out Kyle Belski hit a walk off homerun to end the game, handing SU the 10-9 thrilling victory. Sunday's game kept the momentum going on both sides scoring regularly but Southwestern had the edge and closed out the season with another win, 8-5. The Pirates' season comes to a close with a 13-26 overall record, 6-14 in the SCAC.

No. 19 Trinity finished its regular season with two non-conference road games this past week, defeating both Schreiner and Texas Lutheran. The three-game weekend series against Millsaps was cancelled due to weather and field conditions in San Antonio. The Tigers have won nine straight games heading into the SCAC Championship Tournament, and the team holds an overall record of 47-32 in tournament play. Trinity has played in the championship game five of the past six seasons, and eight times in 11 years under head coach Tim Scannell. The team’s last conference title came in 2008.

For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 11, click here.