SUWANEE, Ga. - After starting the season 0-3,
Birmingham-Southern extended its winning streak to five games with
four wins this week and now sports a 10-5 overall record (3-0 SCAC
record). The Panthers continue to receive votes in the
D3baseball.com Top 25 poll.
Trinity earned first-place votes in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll
for the first time this season after the Tigers improved to 17-3
(6-0 SCAC) with three more wins last week.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College exploded for 11 runs over the
seventh and eighth innings to mount a comeback against East Texas
Baptist in their only game last week, winning 16-4. The ‘Roos
are now 3-13 overall this season. The ‘Roos fell in a 3-0
hole after one inning of play, and after Travis Gibson drove in a
run to square things up in the second, the ‘Roos grabbed a
5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth with Chase Muder notching an
RBI single and John Schulmeister roping a two run triple and later
scoring on a wild pitch. Three more runs came home in the seventh
on a Josh Coughennower double, and the ‘Roos capped things
off with an eight run eighth to make it a 16-4 final. Schulmeister
drove in two runs while Dylan Day and Coughennower each drove in a
run, and Colt Herron and Muder each doubled home two more runs.
Muder, Leech, Schulmeister, Appelquist, Day and Herron each had two
hits to lead the ‘Roos offensively, while Shane Williams
picked up the win, tossing 2.0 innings in relief with no runs given
up on one hit.
Birmingham-Southern went 4-0 this week, all on the road,
defeating Millsaps in a non-conference game on Wednesday, 10-5, and
sweeping Sewanee in the three-game conference series over the
weekend. BSC out-scored the Tigers 25-5 over the three games. On
the week, junior Bruce Maxwell led at the plate, going 6-of-10
(including four doubles and a home run) with seven runs scored.
Freshman David Bourbonnais led with seven RBI. The BSC pitching
staff was strong all week, with senior Jesse Meier, sophomores
Miles Nordgren and Lewis Hammond, and freshman Blake Stevens all
getting wins. They combined to give up 31 hits and nine earned runs
in 32 innings with 42 strikeouts and a .250 opponent batting
average. The Panthers stay on the road this weekend, traveling to
face Maryville (Tenn.) in a three-game series, Saturday and
Sunday.
Centre went 3-2 on the week. The Colonels rallied from
seven runs down to defeat Mount St. Joseph 16-13 Wednesday and then
returned to split a pair of doubleheaders on the weekend. Centre
won 9-8 and then lost 5-4 in nine innings on the road at Hanover
and then returned home to defeat Maryville 8-5 in game one before
falling 13-10. The first two wins of the week extended the
Colonels’ win streak to six games, their longest streak since
an eight-game winning streak in 2001. Centre, now 8-7, will host
#22 Thomas More and then travel to Demorest, Ga. to play #13 Rowan
Saturday and #10 Piedmont Sunday.
Dallas (11-7, 3-5 SCAC) dropped three games on the week.
On Wednesday, the Crusaders were bested 6-3 by Texas Wesleyan
University at historic LaGrave Field in Fort Worth, Texas. Dallas
then headed to Conway, Ark., for a two-game SCAC series with
Hendrix College. The Warriors stymied Dallas, taking Game 1 on
Friday, 14-6, before prevailing 12-6 in Game 2 on Saturday.
Hendrix remained perfect at home this season by
sweeping Dallas in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday. In the
opener, the Warriors recorded 16 hits en route to a 14-6 win.
Sophomore left fielder Collin Radack went 3-for-4 with a double and
two driven in and senior catcher Andrew Thames added two hits and
four RBI. Sophomore starter Jacob Perschke moved to 3-0 on the
season with seven strikeouts over 7.1 innings. Hendrix scored 11
unanswered runs to defeat UD 12-6 on Saturday. Senior second
baseman Clark Sims went 5-for-5 and drew a walk while driving in
three and scoring three times. Senior right fielder Nathan Harr had
two hits and extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Sophomore
J.T. Bowen was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored. Sophomore
reliever Thomas Weber threw seven shutout innings, limiting the
Crusaders to four hits and two walks while fanning six to pick up
the win. Hendrix has now won eight of their last nine games. The
Warriors will host Ozarks on Wednesday night and Southwestern for a
two-game league series on Saturday and Sunday.
Millsaps had a rough weekend as they went 0-3
in non-conference play against BSC and Illinois Wesleyan. In what
was a non-conference game between two SCAC Eastern Division
opponents, the Birmingham-Southern Panthers used a three run fifth
inning to take an advantage and eventually pull away from the
Millsaps Majors Baseball Team 10-5 on Wednesday evening at Twenty
Field. Millsaps then struggled on Saturday afternoon against the
Illinois Wesleyan Titans at Twenty Field. After taking a 3-1 lead
after two innings, the Major offense went cold and could not add to
their lead throughout the game. The following day, The Majors
stranded 11 runners and base and had many opportunities slip
through the grasp as they fell 10-3 to the Titans. Sophomore
Stephen Gates led Millsaps as he went 3-for-5 with a run scored
while Ryan Zemke added a 2-for-4 day with a run scored. The Majors
have lost their third straight and drop to 10-7 on the season. They
get a much needed break and return to action next weekend as they
travel to Georgia for a three game series with the LaGrange
Panthers. First pitch is set for Friday at 7 p.m.
Oglethorpe went 1-2 this past week, dropping 7-5 on
Tuesday versus Huntingdon before splitting a two-game series with
Berry on Friday and Saturday. The Petrels were down early against
Huntingdon before rallying to tie the game at 5-apiece. The Hawks
led off the ninth inning with a single and a homer, however, to
squeak past Oglethorpe. On Friday against Berry, Emmett Goodman
turned in an outstanding performance on the hill, tossing a
complete game with 5 K’s in the Petrels 9-2 win. Catcher Joe
Parillo went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored to pace the
offense for Oglethorpe. The Vikings exacted revenge on Saturday at
their place by winning 9-4. The Petrels were basically knocked out
of the game early as the home standing Vikings jumped out to a 7-0
lead over the first five innings of the game, including a big
four-run third inning. The Petrels are now 6-8 on the season. They
will next be in action Tuesday, when they will make up a previously
scheduled game against Covenant that was rained out earlier in the
year. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Anderson Field.
Rhodes dropped a 4-1 decision to Denison in its first
game of their Spring Break trip in Port Charlotte, Fla. on Sunday.
The Big Red’s Tim Duxbury went 8 innings and allowed just two
hits and one unearned run in the Denison win. Lynden Pindling and
Walker McWherter were each 1 for 3 for Rhodes. The Lynx continue
their week-long trip with games March 12-13 and March 15-16 before
returning for SCAC play at Centre on March 24-25.
Sewanee lost all three games against Birmingham-Southern
last weekend. The Tigers opened SCAC play with a 4-0 defeat to open
the series, then lost 5-1 in the second game. The Tigers finally
fell by 16-4 margin on Sunday. Overall, Blake Bays led the Tiger
offense with four hits. Bays also drove in two runs in on Sunday.
On the mound, Sewanee got its best performance from sophomore Lee
Schurlknight. The left-handed starter allowed four runs, two
earned, on seven hits in six innings of work. This week, the Tiger
enter spring break with a midweek contest against Rust College,
Thursday. Sewanee will then travel to the Russ-Matt Invitational in
Florida all next weekend. That event will begin on Saturday when
the Tigers take on New Jersey City University in Auburndale,
Fla.
Southwestern went 1-2 on the week to move to
6-14 on the year and 2-4 in the SCAC. Wednesday evening the Pirates
defeated Cardinal Stritch 9-5 in the first night game of the year.
The bats came alive for the Pirates as they posted ten hits to earn
the victory. A barrage of pitchers made the win a reality by
holding CSU to six hits while the Wolves stranded 15 base runners.
Sunday afternoon the Pirates and Trinity were finally able to hit
the field after the weekend rains subsided. Trinity scored in the
bottom of the first inning in both games to take an early lead that
Southwestern wasn't able to recover from, falling 5-1 and 9-1 in
the double header. TU's pitching kept the Pirates off-balance off
game and kept SU from stringing together hits. Southwestern heads
to Howard Payne on Tuesday afternoon before returning to conference
action with a two-game series at Hendrix over the
weekend.
No. 3 Trinity went 3-1 over the past week, culminating in
a two-game SCAC sweep of Southwestern on Sunday afternoon. The
Tigers defeated Cardinal Stritch 13-3 to start off the week, then
lost a 5-0 game to DeSales. After rainy weather forced a
postponement of Saturday’s games, Trinity swept Southwestern
9-1 and 5-1 in a Sunday doubleheader. The Tigers have now won 13
consecutive games at home against the Pirates. Ben Klimesh struck
out a career-high 15 batters in the opening game, winning 5-1 to
improve to 7-0. Four Tiger pitchers struck out 17 batters in the
second game of the doubleheader, led by Ryan Lucero’s nine
strikeouts in five innings. Trinity will face Austin College in a
two-game SCAC road weekend series this Saturday and Sunday. Last
season, the Tigers won four out of five meetings with the
‘Roos, and the only loss in the season series came on the
road.
For the complete SCAC Baseball Diamond Weekly for
Week 6, click here.