SUWANEE, Ga. - The week of January 30-February 6 saw six SCAC teams open up their 2011 schedules. Birmingham-Southern, Hendrix, Millsaps, Rhodes, Southwestern and Trinity all opened the new season. Millsaps was the only SCAC team to open the week without a loss.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College had its season
opening double header with Howard Payne postponed due to winter
weather. The two teams are currently working on rescheduling the
games. The Kangaroos and new head coach James Rise will now open
the 2011 season on February 12 and 13 when they travel to Trinity
to begin Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Last year
Austin College dropped all six meetings, including a wild 18-12
game in the conference tournament. The ‘Roos will then open
up the home portion of their schedule on February 15 by welcoming
Arlington Baptist to Sherman, Texas.
Birmingham-Southern opened the season in San
Antonio this past weekend, where they went 2-1 with wins against
Schreiner University, 13-10, and No. 19 Trinity University, 10-9,
on Saturday, but lost to Trinity on Sunday, 10-2. BSC opens its
home slate this weekend, hosting Maryville (Tenn.) College in a
two-game series at Striplin Field. The games are slated for
Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Centre will open its season Saturday, Feb. 19
against NCAA Division II Urbana University. The Colonels are coming
off a 12-21 (5-10 SCAC) 2010 season. The meeting between Centre and
Urbana is believed to be the first meeting between the schools.
DePauw opens the 2011 season on Saturday, February 19 with a doubleheader at Maryville (Tenn.). The two teams will then finish the three game-set on February 20 with a single contest. The Tigers split four meetings last year with the Scots and have split the past six meetings dating back to the 2009 season.
Millsaps got underway this weekend with wins over Rhodes and the University of the Ozarks in the Wilson-DeMarini Classic. In game one with Rhodes, the Majors scored four runs in the bottom half of the eleventh inning to take a 12-11 win from the Lynx. Rhodes forced extra innings with a run in the top of the ninth and looked like they were going to come away with the win after plating three runs in the top of the eleventh. But the Majors answered with four of their own in the home half to secure the win. A leadoff double from Ryan Zemke put runners in scoring position early. He scored on an Andrew Evans' single after stealing third to cut the deficit to two, Will Elmore drove in two runs to tie the game with a single to the right-center gap, and Kevin Wall then had a bunt single to plate the winning run. The Majors took care of business from the start in game two, scoring ten runs in the first two innings to bury the Eagles 18-8 in eight. Alex Granier got the win in relief for the tenth and eleventh innings of game one. Starter Elliot Varney got the nod in game two in four innings of work. The Majors will return to the diamond Wednesday as they travel up Lakeland Drive to take on Belhaven University at Smith-Wills Stadium at 6 p.m.
Oglethorpe begins the 2011 baseball season this Friday when the Petrels face LaGrange College at Anderson Field at 3 p.m. The Petrels were 1-2 against LaGrange in 2010. They split two meetings at LaGrange while dropping their only home game against the Panthers. The Panthers have won six of the past eight meetings dating back to the 2008 season.
Rhodes went 0-2 to open the 2011 season, dropping the first game of the season 3-1 to Berry on Saturday and Sunday’s game 12-11 in 11 innings to Millsaps. The Lynx offense was led by senior RF Brent Lindsey who hit .571 (4-7) on the week with a home run, run scored, 5 RBIs, and walked 3 times. Senior CF Matt Gilbert hit .500 (5-10) with 3 runs, a double, and walked once. Sophomore 3B Lynden Pindling hit .444 (4-9) with a double, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. On the mound, senior Hunter Chandler picked up where he left off from last season working 4.1 innings out of the pen, allowing 5 hits, 0 earned runs, and striking out 3. Rhodes returns to action this weekend with a three game series against Huntingdon College.
Sewanee will open up the 2011 baseball season on February 19 when they head to LaGrange College for a double-header with the Panthers. The Tigers lost all four meetings with the Panthers a year ago. Sewanee’s last win against LaGrange came on February 22, 2009 in a 20-14 victory at LaGrange.
No. 20 Trinity opened its season by winning two out of three games at the Houston Wheeler Memorial Tournament over the weekend. The Tigers opened with a 9-8 walkoff win over Schreiner on Saturday afternoon, then lost a 10-9 game to SCAC East Division foe Birmingham-Southern. Trinity scored four runs in the ninth, but a sharp line drive left the potential tying run on third base. On Sunday, the Tigers defeated the Panthers 10-2 to split the season series. Ben Klimesh struck out 10 batters in seven innings of work to earn the win in Sunday’s weekend finale, while Jonathan Hall went 4-4 with four RBI in the game. Kyle Felix hit .455 (5-11) with three runs and four RBI over the three games to lead the team. Trinity will host Austin College in a two-game SCAC series this weekend, which will open up conference play for both teams. The Tigers swept a five-game regular season series with the ‘Roos last year, as well as winning the SCAC Tournament game between the two teams. Trinity scored at least 10 runs in all but one of last season’s meetings.
For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 1, click here.
.jpg?max_width=280&max_height=139&crop=true)
.jpg?max_width=280&max_height=139&crop=true)
