SUWANEE, Ga. - Thanks in large part to taking two of three games from Centre, the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels became the first team from the Eastern Division to qualify for the 2010 SCAC Baseball Tournament. In the West, Millsaps and Trinity will square off for the top two seeds this weekend.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College went 1-2 on the week to bring
their record to 17-16 overall on the year, picking up a 6-3 win
over American Southwest Conference leading Hardin-Simmons before
falling to SCAC leading Trinity by scores of 8-2 and 19-3. Brian
Buehler hit .545 on the week to lead the ’Roos and Drew Smith
picked up his first win of the year, tossing 2.2 innings of relief
work and getting the victory over HSU. Christian Curtis was also
strong in relief all week, pitching 4.1 shutout innings with eight
strikeouts. Against HSU the ‘Roos fell behind 3-0 early but a
four run seventh lifted them into the lead and they would hold on
for the victory. Scooter Merritt went 2-for-2 with a double, a home
run and three RBI in the win. In game one against Trinity, the
Tigers limited the ‘Roos to seven hits with Buehler getting a
double and a single in the game, and on Sunday the Tigers used two
big innings, including a 10 run fifth, to put AC in a hole they
would be unable to climb out from. Andy White went 3-for-4 with a
double and an RBI in the loss.
No. 13 Birmingham-Southern wrapped up their
second consecutive East Division title this weekend with a sweep of
Rhodes. The Panthers (28-4, 11-1) took game one 7-6 in extra
innings on Saturday before winning game two of the double-header
13-11 in the seven. Sunday’s game went 10-7 to the
Panthers to give ‘Southern a four-game lead heading into
their final conference series with Oglethorpe this
weekend. This is the first out-right title for the Panthers,
who split the honor last season with DePauw. BSC will head up
to Maryville on Wednesday to play a make-up date with the Scots
before heading to Atlanta on Saturday.
Centre went 1-3 on the week falling to Thomas
More on Tuesday and then dropping two of three to Oglethorpe on the
weekend. The Colonels fell 13-1 to Thomas More during the week
before returning home to host Oglethorpe. In game one, Centre had a
5-3 lead into the sixth inning, but allowed four runs to fall 7-5
for the second consecutive SCAC game. Game two saw the Colonels
fall behind 11-4 but rally to pull within 11-9 only to come up
short. Centre then scored seven unanswered runs in game three to
win the series' finale 7-2. Up next for the Colonels is a
three-game SCAC series at home against DePauw.
DePauw improved to 19-13 overall and 7-5 in SCAC play after posting a 4-2 record last week. The Tigers split a doubleheader at Anderson (11-12, 14-10), lost to Rose-Hulman (6-7) and swept Sewanee (19-1, 31-10, 14-0). For the week DePauw hit .462 and slugged at .670. Ben Gardner paced the Tigers with a .577 (15-26) batting average, while Alex Jacques hit .545 (6-11) and Alex Wright batted .538 (14-26). Gardner and Taylor Hoffman each scored 13 runs, while Rob McPike drove in 17 in the six games. Jon Newman slugged at 1.211 with three homers and five doubles. Hoffman has moved into sixth place on DePauw's all-time runs scored list with 110 and 12th with 145 hits.
Millsaps went a perfect 4-0 on the week picking up three of those victories in walk-off fashion. Against Huntingdon, Drew Respess picked a perfect time for his first career home run as it capped off a dramatic come-from-behind 19-18 victory. Respess was down to the Majors’ last strike and sent a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right field for the walk-off two-run blast. Facing Southwestern in the first of a three-game series on Saturday, the Majors rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh with Tyler Berry driving home the winning run with a walk-off walk. In game two, Millsaps built a comfortable 10-3 lead after scoring five runs in the fifth inning. The Pirates fought back to close the gap to 11-9 before the Majors again put up five runs in the seventh highlighted by a three-run triple by Riggins for a 16-9 advantage. A Southwestern rally fell short in the late innings as Millsaps held on for a 16-13 victory. Sunday afternoon, Riggins continued to swing a hot bat hitting two home runs, the second of which came as a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh as the Majors earned an 11-1 run-rule.
Oglethorpe won three of five this week, splitting non-conference games against Piedmont (L, 26-3) and Emory (W, 6-5) before taking two of three from Centre over the weekend. In the Centre series, Oglethorpe took the first two games on Saturday (7-5, 11-9) before falling on Sunday (7-2). The Petrels started the game 3 well, scoring two in the first to take a 2-0 lead. The runs came on a two-run double from Stephen Archer. However, the home standing Colonels would score seven unanswered runs, starting with two in the first, to put the game away. The loss drops the Petrels to 19-15 on the season, 7-5 in SCAC play. They are currently second in the SCAC East Division, as they hold the tiebreaker over DePauw, who is also 7-5. However, with first-place Birmingham-Southern ineligible to participate in the SCAC Tournament, the Petrels are currently holding first position out of the division for the tournament.
Rhodes went 1-3 this week with a 5-4 mid-week victory over Christian Brothers, before being swept by Birmingham Southern in a three game set. Rhodes dropped the first game 7-6 in 10 innings of the scheduled seven inning game, then lost 13-11 in the second half of the double header. On Sunday, the Lynx fell 10-7. Junior Brent Lindsey led the Rhodes offense, hitting .538 (7-13) with a .625 on base percentage. Lindsey scored four runs, drove in three, and walked three times. Junior C Chris Conkell hit .538 (7-13) with two runs scored, and drove in three. Sophomore LF Travis Perkins hit .466 (7-15) with a double, three runs scored, and two RBI. Junior CF Andy Meier hit .438 (7-16) with three doubles, three runs and two RBI. Freshman Matt Burnick went 4-5 with a homerun, double, 3 RBIs, and scored a run. Rhodes will travel to Sewanee this weekend in the final conference weekend of the year.
Sewanee dropped three SCAC games to DePauw this weekend 19-1, 31-10 and 14-0. Taylor Irwin is leading the Tigers with 41 hits and a .380 batting average. Alan Komorowski has 40 hits and is batting a .370 clip. Senior Greg Bartleski has two wins on the mound to lead the Tiger pitching staff. The Tigers are 6-23 and 1-11 in the SCAC. They will host LaGrange this week in midweek non-conference play before hosting SCAC rival Rhodes this weekend.
No. 19 Trinity swept a two-game series at Austin College over the weekend, and went 3-0 overall last week. Trinity also defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor earlier in the week, finishing off a two-game season series sweep. Trinity also wrapped up a five-game regular season series sweep of Austin College, winning three games in San Antonio earlier this year. It marks the second SCAC series sweep of the season for the Tigers. Evan Jones has homered in five consecutive games for the Tigers and is shooting up the record books in numerous categories. He is in the top 10 in virtually every offensive category for a career at Trinity, and is also moving up the ranks among all-time SCAC performers. Trinity will play five games this week, finishing off the regular season. The Tigers travel to Schreiner and Texas Lutheran on Tuesday and Wednesday, then return home to face Millsaps in a three-game SCAC series over the weekend.
For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 10, click here.