MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Both of the SCAC's top 10 nationally ranked teams, Birmingham-Southern and Trinity, as well as Rhodes, picked up wins on day one of the 2012 SCAC Baseball Championship tournament.
GAME ONE RECAP
Trinity University's Ben Klimesh and Millsaps College's Will
Edwards staged quite a pitching duel, but it was Klimesh that got
the better of Edwards as Klimesh went the distance in a 2-1 Trinity
win in the opening game of the 2012 Southern Collegeiate AThletic
Conference baseball tournament. Box Score
Klimesh improved to 12-2 on the season by throwing his eighth complete game of the season. He yielded just a single unearned run while striking out eight and scattering just three hits the entire afternoon.
Edwards suffered a tough loss as he tossed eight innings and allowed just two earned runs on eight hits while striking out five. Edwards fell to 8-3 on the year.
Trinity (33-8) struck first in the bottom of the second inning thanks to Kevin Clements' solo homerun to left field. Trinity then went up 2-0 in their half of the fifth thanks to Dominick Robusto's RBI single through the left side.
Millsaps' first and best chance game in the top of the fifth when the Majors had runners on second and third with nobody out after Ryan Zemke's double to left center field. Klimesh was able to strikeout Samuel Doucet and then retired Jules Rousell on a fly out to right field. Trinity then escaped the jam via a groundout back to Klimesh.
The Majors (25-15) finally got on the board in the top of the eighth when they again put runners on second and third with no outs. However, Millsaps was only able to score on a fielder's choice from Kevin Wall.
Trinity was led by Clements who went 1 for 2 with a homerun and an RBI as well as Robusto who finished 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Millsasaps was led by Roussel and Zemke who each went 1 for 3.
Trinity advances in the winner's bracket and will face the loser of the Dallas vs. Birmingahm-Southern game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. CT. Millsaps will await the loser of the Rhodes vs. Hendrix game Thursday at Noon CT.
GAME TWO RECAP
Rhodes College, the East's No. 2 seed, turned a 1-0 first inning
deficit into a 7-2 win over #3W Hendrix College in the second game
of the SCAC tournament at USA Stadium on Thursday afternoon thanks
in large part to a five run outburst in the second inning. Box Score
The Lynx loaded the bases in the top of the first with no one out but could not get a run home as Hendrix withstood the threat. Rhodes, however, would not be denied. I
n the top of the second as the Lynx pushed across five runs largely by way of Matthew Burnick's two run double to right field. Rhodes also picked up RBI's from Matthew Killary, Lynden Pindling and Channing Arndt.
After Rhodes (27-13) went up 6-1 in the fourth, Hendrix (22-19) was able to cut the lead to 6-2 with a single run but would not get any closer as Rhodes starting pitcher Jackson Baker shut down the Warriors.
Baker improved to 8-4 on the season after throwing eight innings and scattering five hits and two runs (only one earned) and struck out 10 in a dominating performance. Of the 24 outs Baker induced, only one came by way of a flyout (10 strikeouts/13 ground outs).
Hendrix's Nino Tutino suffered the loss and dropped to 2-3 on the season. Tutino went 3.1 innings and allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits ans struck out one.
Offensively, Rhodes was led by Burnick who was 2 for 5 with three runs batted in. He also scored a run. Pindling and Travis Perkins each scored two runs for the Lynx.
For Hendrix, the Warriors were paced by right fielder Nathan Harr who went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Rhodes will play the winner of today's final game between Dallas and Birmingham-Southern tomorrow at 7 p.m. CT. Hendrix will square off against Millsaps in the tournament's first elimination game tomorrow at Noon CT.
GAME THREE RECAP
The ninth-ranked Birmingham-Southern baseball team defeated Dallas
6-4 this evening in its first-ever SCAC post-season appearance at
the SCAC Baseball Championship at USA Stadium. Box Score
The Panthers, the top seed in the East Division, move to 32-7 overall. BSC will now face Rhodes, the second seed in the East, tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Both teams scored twice in the first inning, with BSC's runs coming off a Dallas error. The Panthers went up 4-2 in the third with two RBIs on a single by freshman David Bourbonnais.
The Crusaders cut it to 4-3 in the top of the fourth, but BSC scored twice in the bottom of the fourth on a bases-loaded walk and an RBI from sophomore Austin Justice to go up 6-3.
Dallas scored once more in the top of the ninth.
Blake Stevens, the newly-minted SCAC Freshman-of-the-Year, started on the mound and threw seven innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts to get the win and move to 6-2 on the season. Sophomore Ralls Pennington pitched the eighth, allowing no hits, and junior Blake Yance threw the ninth for his sixth save of the year.
Freshman Zach Wagner led the Panthers at the plate, going 3-4, while 2012 SCAC Player-of-the-Year Bruce Maxwell was 2-3.
Dallas will face Trinity tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.