SUWANEE, Ga. - Two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) teams posted wins over ranked teams last week. Ninth-ranked Trinity University took two of three from 11th-ranked Chapman while Millsaps College beat 15th-ranked Piedmont, 11-2 on Sunday.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College had a tough week, dropping three
hard fought games against UT-Tyler and Hendrix. The ‘Roos
dropped a 4-2 decision to the Patriots to start the week before
falling 4-0 and 9-5 to the Warriors over the weekend. John
Schulmeister had an outstanding week at the plate and on the
pitcher’s mound, hitting .500 with two doubles while also
throwing 7.0 solid innings on the mound with a 1.29 ERA and five
strikeouts. Josh Coughennower also had a big week at the plate,
hitting .429, and Chase Muder and Mason Leech each scored a pair of
runs in the three losses. Cullen Calabria had a solid effort on the
mound against Hendrix, going 6.0 innings and surrendering just two
earned runs in the loss.
Birmingham-Southern played a doubleheader against
Huntingdon this week after rain caused one of the games to be
cancelled. BSC split with the Hawks, losing the first game 4-2 and
rebounding with a 2-1 win in game two. Junior Stephen Denton
delivered the game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the seventh
to help BSC get the win in the nightcap. Freshman Blake Stevens
started on the mound and went six innings, striking out eight
Huntingdon batters; junior Blake Yance picked up the win, moving to
2-0. BSC is on the road for its next seven games, traveling to face
Millsaps in a non-conference game this Wednesday at 6 p.m. before
opening SCAC action on Saturday against Sewanee.
Centre had a big week winning all four games. The
Colonels hosted in-state rival Transylvania Thursday and got a
walk-off single by junior Aaron Ammann to win 3-2. Centre then
defeated Calvin 10-2 Friday as senior Joe Nash struck out a
career-high 14 in six innings of work. Saturday saw the Colonels
sweep a double header from Defiance 1-0 and 7-1 to even its overall
record to 5-5. The Centre pitching staff allowed only five runs in
32.0 innings on the week and struck out 37 with only nine walks.
The Colonels will play at Mount St. Joseph Wednesday, a
doubleheader at Hanover Saturday and return home to host Maryville
in a doubleheader Sunday.
Dallas (11-4, 3-3 SCAC) went 2-2 on the week. The
Crusaders split two games with LeTourneau (L 8-5, W 9-0) before
splitting two SCAC games with Southwestern (L 4-3, W 7-4). Dallas
returns to action on March 7 traveling to Texas Wesleyan before
traveling to Conway, Ark. to square off against Hendrix in an SCAC
series over the weekend.
Hendrix started the week with a 12-11, 11-inning
loss at Ozarks on Tuesday. Sophomore J.T. Bowen had three hits and
two runs batted in and sophomore left fielder Collin Radack had two
hits and two stolen bases. Senior right fielder Nathan Harr hit a
two-run home run in the game. Returning to SCAC play on Saturday at
Austin, three pitchers combined to throw a 4-0 shutout over the
‘Roos. Sophomore Jacob Perschke fanned five batters and
allowed just five hits and a walk over seven innings to pick up the
win. Freshman Nino Tutino earned the save by inducing an
inning-ending bases loaded double play in the eighth and striking
out two in a perfect ninth inning. The Warriors finished the week
with a 9-5 win over Austin on Sunday. Harr, who extended his
hitting streak to 13 games, went 3-for-5 and senior first baseman
Mark Vlaskamp was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and was hit by two
pitches. Senior Geoff Lomax earned the win on the mound. Hendrix
will host Dallas for a pair of conference games on Saturday and
Sunday.
Millsaps went 1-1 this weekend in Georgia as
they fell to Montclair State before returning to knock off No. 15
Piedmont on their turf. The Majors stumbled out of the blocks on
Saturday afternoon as they faced a 11-0 deficit after two innings.
Millsaps battled back as they put themselves in striking distance
to try and make a great comeback; however, the Montclair State Red
Hawks ran away with it and took the 14-7 win over the Majors.
Millsaps bounced back in a big way as they took on No. 15 Piedmont.
Will Edwards avenged his one loss of the season in a big way as he
struck out 11 Lions in six innings of work to earn his third win of
the season as the Majors bats came alive to knock off 15th ranked
Piedmont 11-2.The Majors improved their record to 9-4 overall.
Millsaps returns to action Monday in Demorest as they will take on
Methodist University. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. EST. The
Majors then take on BSC in a non-conference game on Wednesday
before traveling to LaGrange for the weekend.
Oglethorpe went 3-1 this past week, losing at No. 15
Piedmont 12-7 on Thursday before dismantling Rust college in a
three-game series over the weekend. Against the highly ranked
Lions, the Petrels exploded for 7 runs in the third inning to take
a 7-5 lead. The rally got started with a Hunter Riley walk, a Jake
Spear single and a Vernon Trice walk. This loaded the bases with
one out. Nick Manai followed with an RBI single to score the first
run of the inning and the game for the Petrels. Then with two outs,
Jeff Brothers drove in a run with a walk to make the score 5-2 in
favor of Piedmont. Joe Parillo came up next and slapped a two-run
single to right field. A third run scored on a Piedmont error on
the same play, and the Petrels had tied the game. Josh Morgan then
bombed the first home run of his career, and Oglethorpe had their
7-5 lead. That would be all scoring for Oglethorpe, however, as
Piedmont tallied the final 7 runs of the contest for the victory.
The Petrels then swept a weekend series at Rust College. Oglethorpe
is now 5-6 on the season and will square off with Huntingdon and
Berry this week hoping to keep their momentum going.
Rhodes lost three home games this past week to No. 1
Marietta College by scores of 11-5 and 12-1 on Saturday and then
14-1 on Sunday. The Lynx now sit at 7-7 on the season and return to
action on Sunday, March 11 when they travel to Port Charlotte, Fla.
for a week long Spring Break trip. Rhodes will then begin SCAC play
after they return from Florida.
Sewanee finished the weekend 1-2 against Earlham. The
Tigers and Quakers split an afternoon baseball doubleheader on
Saturday at Montgomery Field. Sewanee came out on top in the first
game 14-3 and Earlham won the nightcap 8-3. In Game 1,
Sewanee’s Jacob Simpson (2-1) was the winning pitcher for the
Tigers working five plus innings while allowing three runs on six
hits. Alan Komorowski pitched the final two innings of the game to
earn his first save of the season. In the second game of the
doubleheader, Earlham jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the visitor's
half of the sixth inning. This week, Sewanee opens a SCAC play with
a three-game series against rival Birmingham-Southern. The Tigers
and Panthers will begin the series with a noon double-header
contest, Saturday at Montgomery Field.
Riding an emotional roller coaster after losing baseball legend
and former head coach Jim Mallon, Southwestern hit
the field for three games this week. Tuesday SU hosted Mary
Hardin-Baylor. The Pirates were never able to get in a rhythm
offensively while the Crusaders posted runs in all but two innings
to hand Southwestern a 12-1 loss. After a shaky start to game one
of Sunday's double-header against the University of Dallas, SU
unleashed offensively to score four runs in the first two innings
to cruise to a 4-3 win. Southwestern struck first in the second
game as well, posting two runs in the bottom of the first. A big
fourth inning allowed UD to take the lead 5-2, but SU closed the
gap with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. UD took control
with one run in the fifth and sixth innings as Southwestern didn't
have the answer, falling 7-4. SU hosts Cardinal Stritch for a night
game on Wednesday before traveling south for a two-game series with
Trinity on Saturday and Sunday.
No. 4 Trinity rallied to take two out of three games in a
weekend series with 11th-ranked Chapman University, capped by a
walk-off, 10-inning win on Sunday afternoon. The weekend started
off with the worst loss since 2007 for the Tigers, as Chapman
opened the series with a 17-4 win, scoring 13 runs in the first two
innings of the highly-anticipated matchup. Trinity then scored two
one-run wins with late-inning heroics on Saturday and Sunday,
taking the series 2-1. Will Donnan’s two-run home run
in the bottom of the eighth inning of Saturday’s game, broke
a 1-1 tie, and turned out to be the game-winner in a 3-2 win.
Trinity turned a pop fly double play to end the game, despite
Chapman scoring a run on the play. In Sunday’s game, Trinity
rallied twice to tie the game against Chapman, with the last coming
on a squeeze play in the seventh inning. With two outs in the 10th
inning, Nick Pappas laced a single through the left side of the
infield to win the game. Trinity will play four more games this
week, and all of them will be at home. The Tigers face Cardinal
Stritch on Tuesday night, followed by a game against DeSales on
Thursday. Trinity resumes SCAC play on Saturday and Sunday, hosting
Southwestern for a two-game series.
For the complete SCAC Baseball Diamond Weekly for
Week 5, click here.