SUWANEE, Ga. - Continuing its best start in school history, the Millsaps College Majors jumped up two spots in this week's D3baseball.com poll to No. 12. Jim Page's Majors also received one first-place vote. Elsewhere, in the Eastern Division, conference play begins for all six division members the weekend of March 12-15.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin had a tough week against a pair of ranked opponents in UT-Tyler and Millsaps. Against UT-Tyler, the 'Roos fell behind early and never recovered in a 14-2 loss. Against Millsaps, the 'Roos scored nine runs over the final three innings but it wasn't enough to overcome the Majors in a 13-9 loss. In the second game on Saturday the 'Roos led 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh but six runs by the Majors over the final three innings resulted in a 7-5 loss. On Sunday the ‘Roos again led the Majors, this time taking a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the fourth, but a four run seventh propelled the Majors past Austin College in a 10-7 defeat. Drew McAdoo and Lee Cohen each hit .667 and homered during the week and Patrick Ray hit .615 with three doubles and a triple, and Brian Buehler hit .500 and homered as well.

Birmingham-Southern (11-3) posted a 3-1 week with wins over Greenville College and Capital University. Clay Malcolm collected his fourth win of the season on Friday in the Panthers' 10-3 defeat of Greenville. The BSC hurler went eight innings in the win, holding Greenville to seven hits and two runs with four strikeouts. Greenville got some payback Saturday morning, handing the Panthers their first loss in eight games, defeating BSC 3-2.  Capital University ran into a buzz saw later in the day, as the Panthers took out their frustrations from the Greenville loss, defeating the Crusaders 15-2 in seven. BSC unloaded for six runs in the top of the fifth to burry Capital. The Panthers took the series sweep of Capital with the 9-7 win. BSC will return to action late in the week as they host the University of the South for a three-game set. 

Centre went 2-4 on the week earning its first two wins of the season against Defiance College and Maryville College (Tenn.). The Colonels dropped a doubleheader to Maryville Wednesday allowing a combined 12 runs, all unearned, in the two games. Two days later, Centre's bats woke up scoring 23 runs on 18 hits in a 23-5 win over Defiance. The Colonels then fell to Earlham 19-11 Saturday as Centre pitchers allowed 12 walks and two hit batters. Sunday, the Colonels bounced back in game one of a doubleheader at Maryville. Centre won 10-3 in game one, but fell in the second game 14-1. The Colonels are currently 2-6 and will play Spalding University, Berea College this week prior to opening SCAC play at Oglethorpe University Saturday and Sunday.

DePauw is 6-4 on the season after splitting its four home games over the weekend. The Tigers were 1-2 against 16th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan and defeated Hanover in their only meeting. The Tigers hit .313 for the weekend with a .539 slugging percentage including six homers. Taylor Hoffman led the team with a .500 batting average and a .929 slugging percentage. He went 4-for-4 in the series finale with Illinois Wesleyan. Mike Stout hit a pair of homers in Saturday's win over Hanover and led the team with 5 RBI over the weekend. Brad Gerlach pitched six innings of the Tigers' lone win against Illinois Wesleyan and allowed just one run on three hits in improving to 3-0 on the season.

Hendrix suffered three losses on the week to a pair of Top 25 teams and now stands at 6-10 overall. The Warriors lost a pair of mid-week games to No. 7 UT-Tyler (9-5 and 9-4) before falling to No. 9 Chapman University (10-8) on Sunday. The Warriors are in the midst of one of their toughest stretches in this year's schedule as they are competing against three top 25 teams in a one-week span. Hendrix is continually showing that they can compete with the best as their largest margin of defeat was just five runs against UT-Tyler on March 5. The Warriors will look to take down No. 18 California Lutheran University on Monday at 2:30 p.m. in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Hendrix senior CF Daniel Ward combined to go 10-for-24 with four doubles, a home run, nine runs scored, six RBI on the week.  

No. 12 Millsaps extended its best start in school history at 16-1 with a perfect 4-0 week. The Majors knocked off Belhaven 14-4 as part of the Maloney Trophy Series on Tuesday, and then followed with a three-game weekend sweep over SCAC-foe Austin College to stretch their season-long winning streak to 10 games. Millsaps used Hunter Owen's walk-off home run to complete a Saturday sweep and rallied behind the arm of left-hander Tait Hendrix for a Sunday win. As a team, Millsaps hit .375 during the four-game stretch with eight home runs. Sophomore Will Hawkins extended his team-leading average to .479 with a 10-for-15 week (.667), including two doubles, two home runs, a triple and three RBIs. Hendrix went 2-0 on the hill with a 2.84 ERA in 12.2 innings of work, Millsaps will close out a five-game home stand Tuesday, welcoming Mississippi College to town for Game 3 of the Maloney Series. The Majors will then play a non-conference game at Huntingdon before a pair of games at Trinity University on March 14 and 15.

Oglethorpe split two contests this past week, falling on Tuesday at Piedmont, 9-8 and topping Mt. Aloysius on Friday, 12-2. The Petrels scored the first five runs against the Lions on Tuesday but could not hold the lead as they eventually lost by the one run margin. Andrew Llano was 2 for 3 with two doubles and 3 RBI in the loss for Oglethorpe. On Friday, OU climbed back to .500 (6-6) by easily dispatching Mt. Aloysius 12-2. The Petrels pounded out 20 hits in the game. Oglethorpe scored three in the second then essentially broke the game open in the third with a three-run Chris Lucas homer to make it 6-0. Lucas had another standout offensive day, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a walk, five RBIs. Mark Hoban picked up another relief win, his second of the year, in going 3.2 shutout innings while allowing only three hits and a walk, and striking out three. Oglethorpe hosts Haverford for a doubleheader on Tuesday before taking on SCAC foe Centre at Anderson Field.

Rhodes went 1-3 on the week, dropping 2 of 3 games to Denison University and a single game to Marietta College. Rhodes dropped Friday's game to Denison 11-7. On Saturday, Rhodes lost to Marietta 6-5 in 10 innings before beating Denison 10-6. On Sunday, Rhodes lost to Denison 14-8 in the final game of their 3 game set. Rhodes opens conference play this weekend with a three game set at home against DePauw. Rhodes will take on Division II Christian Brothers on the road at 3:00 on Tuesday.

Sewanee went 1-2 during the week, losing to Emory and splitting a doubleheader with Dubuque. In the first game against Dubuque, the Tigers outlasted the Spartans in a slugfest 22-12. Dubuque came back in the nightcap to nip Sewanee 12-11. In the first game of the doubleheader, the Tigers used two big innings to cruise to a 22-12 victory over the Spartans.  Greg Bartleski pitched five strong innings to pick up the win on the mound for the Tigers, giving up five earned runs on nine hits.  Sewanee's record moves to 2-5 on the season. Senior DH Trey Axe continues to lead the Tigers at the plate and is 20 for 29 from the plate (.690) and scored five runs this weekend. The Tigers will travel to Birmingham-Southern on Thursday to begin a three-game SCAC series with the Panthers. 

Southwestern went 1-2 in action this week. Tuesday, the Pirates fell at UMHB in a homerun fest on a windy afternoon. Eight homeruns were hit in the game and Southwestern fell 26-7. Matt Stuart took the loss for Southwestern to fall to 0-2 on the year. Offensively, Mark Noggle led the Pirates going 2-4 including 2 homeruns, 2 runs and 3 RBI's. Southwestern returned to conference action over the weekend, facing off against Trinity. The Pirates took game one on Saturday behind Wes Willis' complete game. Willis tossed scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth innings to seal the Southwestern victory. Sunday, the Pirates and Tigers were locked even at five going into the eighth. Trinity posted two runs in the eighth and then exploded for nine runs to win 16-5. Alan Lowry incurred the loss and Michael Murphy posted a 4-for-5 day for the Pirates. Up next, the Pirates travel to face UT-Tyler on Tuesday, Mar. 10 at 3 p.m. in Abilene, Texas.

Trinity finished last week with a 2-2 record, including a road series split at Southwestern over the weekend. The Tigers opened the week with a 14-4 win over Concordia (TX) on Tuesday afternoon, playing at Dell Diamond - the home of Minor League Baseball team, the Round Rock Express. The Tigers scored 12 runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to complete the comeback win. On Thursday, Trinity lost its only home game of the week, falling to DeSales in an 11-8 night game. After the Tigers took a 7-6 lead in a back-and-forth game, DeSales answered with a four-run inning to take the lead for good. Over the weekend, Trinity opened a two-game SCAC series with a 4-2 loss at Southwestern on Saturday. The Tigers earned their third straight conference series split with a 16-5 win on Sunday. Jordan Pennington extended his hitting streak to 24 games, dating back to the 2008 season. He hit .467 over the past week, going 7-15 with seven runs and seven RBI. Trinity will take on Concordia (TX) at home on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a Wednesday tilt against Illinois State University at Nelson Wolfe Stadium - home of the San Antonio Missions - taking part in the Irish Classic Tournament. Thursday, Trinity will host Wabash College, followed by a Saturday afternoon game against SCAC rival Millsaps College.  Later that night, the Tigers will take on the University of Notre Dame at Wolfe Stadium to continue its part in the Irish Classic.  On Sunday, a long week of games will end with the conclusion of the Millsaps series.

For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 5, click here.