SUWANEE, Ga. - Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play began this past weekend as Dallas and 22nd-ranked Trinity each swept their respective two-game series. The Crusaders beat Austin College 15-0 and 14-4 while Trinity beat Hendrix 7-2 and 10-0.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College fell to the University of Dallas
in both halves of its SCAC opening doubleheader over the weekend,
dropping a 15-0 decision in game one before falling 14-4 in game
two. In game one the ‘Roos took a 1-0 game into the fourth
before the Crusaders exploded for 10 runs over the next two innings
to blow the game open. Austin College was unable to get much going
offensively in the game, mustering just three hits in the loss. In
game two the ‘Roos found themselves in a 6-0 hole after one
inning despite giving up only two hits in the inning, and they were
unable to overcome that deficit despite a monster game from Tyler
Appelquist, who went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and three
RBI. Appelquist hit .714 for the weekend.
No. 25 Birmingham-Southern went 2-1 this
week at the Methodist University Tournament. On Friday they split,
losing to Lynchburg, 7-4, but then defeating Methodist 10-5, and on
Saturday defeating Frostburg State 6-3. Against Lynchburg, junior
Stephen Denton led with two hits and junior Bruce Maxwell led with
two RBI. Against Methodist, senior Jon Walker and sophomore Austin
Justice led with three hits each, and Walker led with four RBI.
Then against Frostburg State, Denton led with four hits and two
RBI. The Panthers open their home schedule this weekend, hosting a
three-game series against Covenant with a single game on Friday at
4 p.m. and two games on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Centre will open its season Tuesday, February
21 when the y travel to Spalding. The Colonels are coming off a
13-22 (6-9 SCAC) 2011 season. Centre’s home opener is
scheduled for Saturday, February 25 in a double-header with
Earlham.
Dallas (8-0, 2-0 SCAC)) went 2-0 in SCAC play during the
week, sweeping Austin College in Sherman, Texas. The two league
wins are the first-ever SCAC baseball wins for the Crusaders. The
Crusaders won both games (15-0 and 14-4) in run rule contests.
Dallas was led by junior right fielder Adam Farris who hit .444 on
the week with four RBI, a double, a triple and four runs scored.
Junior right-hander Michael Byers pitched five innings in the first
game and struck out two and earned the win. Dallas returns to
action on Wednesday traveling to Texas-Dallas before entertaining
Trinity for a two-game series at home.
Hendrix opened up SCAC play with a pair of losses at #22
Trinity on Sunday. The Tigers took the seven-inning opener 7-2,
then run-ruled the Warriors 10-0 in seven innings in game two. In
game one, senior right fielder Nathan Harr had a RBI-double and
senior second baseman Clark Sims recorded a run-scoring triple. In
game two, Collin Radack, Kyle Raskin and Harr each had a hit. With
his hit, Harr extended his hitting streak to six games. Hendrix
will face the University of the Ozarks on the road on Tuesday and
host Webster in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday for the
Warriors’ first home games of the season.
Millsaps traveled to Ozarks to compete in the
Ozarks Baseball Classic on Friday-Sunday. The Majors used great
offense as they scored 31 runs on the weekend to take three wins.
On day one, Millsaps used four runs in the first two innings and
great pitching to pull away with the 9-1 victory over Westminster.
Freshman West Hammond earned his first career win of the season
while the Blue Jay's Tyler Ten Eyck took the loss. Hammond pitched
six full innings while allowing no runs off three hits and striking
out three. The Majors returned the next day with a thrilling,
come-from-behind 11-10 victory over Simpson College. Millsaps used
five runs in the eighth to complete the comeback as Zander Romano
picked up the win. On the final day, the Majors used a five run
sixth inning to pull away and rode the arm of junior Will Edwards
(1-1) to defeat the home standing Ozarks and sweep the
weekend.
Oglethorpe suffered three defeats this past week, losing
at Huntingdon (L, 7-1) before falling to Piedmont (L, 7-1) and
LaGrange (L, 6-1) on successive dates in games played on Coolray
Field, home of the Gwinnett Braves. Oglethorpe struggled to get the
offense going, producing just three runs in twenty-seven innings
throughout the week. While the starting pitching has been solid at
the outset of the season, it’s fielding and timely hitting
that have held the Petrels back. Oglethorpe will look to get back
into the win column this week with a game at LaGrange on Tuesday
and doubleheader versus Bates College on Saturday.
Rhodes took two of three games against 2011 NCAA regional
participant Wabash over the weekend. The Lynx won the first two
games by scores of 4-3 and 5-2, respectively before dropping the
series finale, 11-10. With the wins, the Lynx improve to 5-2 on the
season. Rhodes returns to action on February 24-26 traveling to
Georgia to take on Emory, LaGrange and York (Pa.).
In their opening weekend, Sewanee rode a pair of
strong mound performances by veteran pitchers Jacob Simpson and Lee
Schurlknight to sweep a doubleheader from visiting Johnson
University on Saturday. The Tigers took Game 1 by the score of 15-2
and completed the sweep with an 8-0 shutout in the nightcap.
Simpson pitched five scoreless innings, allowed no hits, struck out
eight and walked only two batters to pick up the win in the first
game. Schurlknight, the winner in Game 2, gave up no runs on no
hits, struck out 13 and allowed three walks in five innings of
work. Offensively, Sewanee pounded out 25 hits.
Despite the soggy conditions in central Texas
Southwestern was busy this week, hosting four
games at home this week. Tuesday Southwestern hosted soon-to-be
SCAC opponent Schreiner for a double header. The Pirates rode a
power surge, courtesy of Jeff Glasgow and Nate Shipp, to a pair of
5-4 victories. Glasgow went 3-3 in the opener, with two doubles, a
homerun and drove in four runs while Shipp led in game two with a
three-run shot over the fence in left center to jump start the
'Bucs. Friday, Southwestern was able to sneak in a game with Texas
Lutheran before the rains came. Matt Stuart was sensational on the
mound, throwing a complete game and allowing only one earned run
while seven different Pirates had hits and six scored to support.
SU took the game 8-1. After a deluge that forced a reschedule and
relocation of Saturday's games, Southwestern once again faced Texas
Lutheran at home for one nine inning game. After a strong start the
Pirates led throughout most of the game, but gave up five runs in
the ninth to lose 6-4 to the Bulldogs. After the week Southwestern
sits at 3-8 on the season. They hit the road once again to face
Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene on Tuesday before returning
home to open SCAC action with a two-game series with Austin College
on Saturday and Sunday.
No. 22 Trinity went 4-1 over the past week, taking two out
of three mid-week games from Centenary (La.), and sweeping a
two-game SCAC weekend series against Hendrix. The Tigers opened the
week by sweeping a doubleheader from Centenary in dramatic fashion,
winning 10-8 and 6-5 on walk-off home runs. Centenary avoided a
similar fate on Wednesday, though, coming from behind to steal a
6-5 win in the series finale. Trinity then turned its attention to
the SCAC openers against Hendrix, and despite weather-related
issues that delayed the start of the series, the Tigers still
managed to win 7-2 and 10-0 to close out the weekend. Trinity will
play three more games this week, beginning with a Tuesday afternoon
tilt with Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Tigers will then continue SCAC
play against the University of Dallas, which is undefeated heading
into this week, and tied with Trinity atop the SCAC West
Division.
For the complete SCAC Baseball Diamond Weekly for
Week 3, click here.