SUWANEE, Ga. - The SCAC's two NCAA participants from 2009 started the 2010 baseball season in fashion as Hendrix (3-0) and Millsaps (3-0) combined to start 6-0 during the first week of play. All told, seven of the 11 SCAC teams began the season with Centre, DePauw, Rhodes and Sewanee set to start play before the end of the month.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College
started 2-3 after the first week of play, splitting with Northwood
University before taking one of three against Texas Lutheran.
Against Northwood the ‘Roos won the first game of their
doubleheader 10-8 before falling 10-4 in game two, and then on
Saturday lost to TLU by scores of 14-4 and 8-1. The ‘Roos
picked up a win over the Bulldogs when Sean Muder hit an RBI double
with two outs in the bottom of the tenth for a 12-11 win on Sunday.
John Reisig has started the year hitting .500 with four RBI while
Andy White and Brian Buehler have also gotten off to fast starts.
White is hitting .450 through five games with a double, a homer and
two runs batted in while Buehler hit .444 with a home run and three
RBI last week. Muder and Phillip Gonzales are each hitting .400
this season, with Muder notching two doubles and knocking in four
runs so far this season. Tyler Steed has gotten off to a solid
start on the mound, making two appearances and posting a 1-1 record
with a 2.57 earned run average through the first five games of the
year.
Birmingham-Southern opened 2010 with two games
hosted by in-state rival Huntingdon College. The Panthers lost game
one against the Mississippi College Choctaws, 5-4, before outpacing
the Hawks 16-4 in the nightcap. The Panthers scored two runs in the
top of the ninth to come within one of the Choctaws but were unable
to send the game into extra frames. They took out their
frustrations on the host, unloading 16 runs on 19 hits on the
Hawks’ defense. ‘Southern will remain on the road next
weekend as they travel up to face the Maryville Scots in a
three-game series. Saturday’s double-header begins at 11:00
a.m. Central and Sunday’s single game is slated for 2:00 p.m.
Central.
Centre will open up the 2010 season with a
doubleheader at home against Earlham College, February 27 and then
travel to Maryville, Tenn. to play Maryville College Sunday,
February 28. The Colonels finished the 2009 season with an overall
record of 12-24 and posted a 6-6 record in conference play. In the
SCAC Tournament the team finished in third place, which was the
team's highest finish in school history.
DePauw is scheduled to open the 2010 baseball
season on February 20 with a doubleheader at Maryville (Tenn.). The
Tigers finished the 2009 season with a 22-19 overall mark and a
10-5 record in SCAC play. DePauw split two games with Maryville
(Tenn.) last year. The Tigers picked up a 2-1 road win then dropped
an 11-8 decision to the Scots. The teams then had a double-header
the following day cancelled due to weather.
Hendrix started its 2010 season on a high note,
collecting three wins against the University of Dallas on Sunday at
Crusader Field. The Warriors tallied 23 runs on 38 hits in the
series. The two teams ran out of daylight with the score tied 6-6
after 10 innings in the opening game on Saturday and were forced to
pick up where they left off on Sunday at noon. Hendrix exploded for
four runs on six hits and one error in the fourth frame. Warrior
junior Jeff Forgerson stepped to the plate with one out in the top
of the ninth and blasted a solo shot over the right field wall to
knot the game at 5-5. Both teams scored one run in the 10th and
parted ways for the night. The Warriors unleashed four runs to
start Sunday’s 11th inning with Forgerson driving in the
go-ahead run. Smoyer tossed 6.0 innings with just one free pass to
earn the win in game two. In the night cap, Tyler Keever allowed
just three hits in the first four innings of his collegiate career
and earned the win.
Millsaps swept a season-opening three-game series
against the University of the Ozarks at Twenty Field over the
weekend to move to 3-0 on the season. Recording as many walks as
hits, the Majors opened the 2010 season with a 16-2 victory Friday
night. Junior Aaron Williams started for the Majors and got the win
pitching five innings scattering eight hits and giving up only two
runs. Jake Mills, Boomer Hudson and Wes Perkins combined to pitch
four shutout innings in relief allowing only one hit. Millsaps
cruised to a doubleheader sweep of the Eagles on a cold and windy
Saturday afternoon. Starting pitcher Shelby Robertson shut down the
Eagles’ hitters allowing just two hits and one run in 4 2/3
innings of work for the win. Elliot Varney started game two for
Millsaps and allowed three first-inning runs on four hits before
settling down to limit Ozarks to one hit in the next two innings.
The Majors broke the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh
inning scoring six runs. Zack Snider recorded his first collegiate
victory as the Majors’ bullpen stymied the Ozarks’
hitters for the third straight game. The Majors will take their
perfect record on the road Tuesday for a non-conference game
against Huntingdon College starting at 4 p.m.
Oglethorpe began its
season in style on Sunday afternoon by enjoying a final inning
3-run walk-off homerun from Brendan Pilger to claim the season
opener over Maryville, 8-7. The Scots rallied to claim game two of
the doubleheader by the score of 16-8 to earn the series split but
it was the bat of Brendan Pilger in game one that carried the story
of the day after the senior belted a staggering three homeruns in
the 7 inning contest. The Scots pushed the lead back to 6-3 by
plating runs in the top of the fifth but OU responded immediately
with two of their own in the bottom half on Pilger's second blast
of the day. Junior Andrew Lofholm began the 7th by collecting an
HBP and Jake Spear reached on a Scot error. Pilger stepped to the
plate and crushed the third pitch over the left field fence for the
win. The Scots managed to temper some of the game one celebration
by rallying from a 8-1 deficit to win game two, 16-8. Oglethorpe is
now 1-1 on the season and will have a few days off before facing
Emory this Friday at Anderson Field at 4:00 p.m.
Rhodes opens the 2010 season on Feb. 10 when the
Lynx host cross-town Division II rival Christina Brothers. Rhodes
then hosts Huntingdon (Ala.) for a week-long (Friday through
Sunday) set. Last season, the Lynx compiled an overall record of
25-16 and a 9-6 mark in SCAC play.
Sewanee will open its 2010 season this week at
Piedmont, with a neutral game against Mississippi College on
Saturday and against the host Lions on Sunday. Scott Baker's Tigers
are coming off of an 8-22 year last year and Baker surpassed
legendary Sewanee coach Shirley Majors for most career wins in
2009. On the mound, Sewanee will look to senior hurler Greg
Bartleski for leadership and at the plate, Taylor Irwin will be
returning to repeat his .410 batting average.
Southwestern opened the season with five tough
non-conference games, starting 1-4 through the opening week. The
first game at Houston-Victoria was a pitching duel as the Pirates
held UHV scoreless to open the season with a 2-0 win behind the arm
of junior Brantley Freeman who pitched seven, one-hit innings.
Southwestern remained on the road as they went to Texas Wesleyan
and fell 5-2 with a tough four-run fifth that gave Wesleyan the
lead. Over the weekend SU hosted their first home series, a
three-game set against ASC opponent Concordia University. Both
games on Saturday required extra innings as the Pirates got on the
board early but the Tornados came storming back and eventually took
the wins. Game one was a 9-5 win for CUA in 8 innings while the
final game of the day required nine as Concordia won late 7-3.
Concordia scored four runs in the top of the 8th and Southwestern's
comeback in the bottom of the ninth fell short as they were only
able to push two across dropped the last game of the series 9-6. SU
has a light week after a busy opening eight days as they host Texas
Lutheran on Friday for a single game and then head to Seguin for a
double header on Saturday.
Trinity opened up the 2010 campaign by winning a
three-game weekend series against Schreiner University. Trinity won
a wild 15-10 game in the season opener at E.M. Stevens Field, but
lost the second half of the doubleheader 9-3. On Sunday, the teams
faced off at Schreiner, and the Tigers scored an 8-5 win to take
the series. Four Tiger players hit better than .400 in the
three-game series, including first-year infielder Jonathan Hall,
who hit 5-12 (.417) with three runs and a team-high five RBI. Kyle
Felix led the team with eight hits (8-16, .500 average) and six
runs scored, hitting a pair of doubles and a home run in his first
three games. Noah Solomon, last year’s SCAC Pitcher of the
Year, and Mike Panozzo each picked up wins over the weekend, and
the duo combined for 17 strikeouts in 12.2 innings of work. Trinity
will travel to Belton, Texas on Tuesday, facing off against the
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Next weekend, the Tigers open up
SCAC play with a three-game series against Austin College at home.
Trinity won three out of five games in last year’s SCAC
series, splitting the two games played in San Antonio.
For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 1, click here.