SUWANEE, Ga. - Rhodes College senior infielder J.R. Bizzell became the 21st player in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference history to join the 200-hit list with a single to center field in the Lynx's 19-3 win over Christian Brothers on March 10. In the Western Division, the Trintity Tigers ended Millsaps' 13 game winning streak with a stand-out performance from pitcher Evan Bronson. The Majors, however, continued its climb in the D3baseball.com poll entering the top 10 for the first time in 2009.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin played just once last week, stepping out of conference to thump East Texas Baptist 14-3 to improve to 6-11 overall this year. The 'Roos jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back with Will Chermak going the distance, scattering nine hits and striking out 10 batters to earn the win. Matt Finke and Lee Cohen each hit three run homers in the game, and Scooter Merritt went 3-for-6 to lead the 'Roos offensively. Jordan Robison went 2-for-3 and was one of five players to collect a pair of hits in the game.

Birmingham-Southern (14-4, 3-0) gained a sweep of SCAC-rival Sewanee last weekend, defeating the Tigers in a double-header on Thursday and again on Friday in the series finale. The Panthers poured 31 runs and allowed just nine across the three games. Drew Leachman had a strong offensive series, accumulating eight hits, eight RBIs, and crossed the plate six times himself in 13 at-bats. The Panthers will host Wisconsin-Platteville for three games to open this week before a Wednesday meeting with Tennessee Temple University. 

Centre played twice last week, falling to Spalding 6-5 in 12 innings on the road and then 15-1 to Berea College. After jumping out to a 4-1 lead against Spalding, Centre surrendered four runs in the bottom of the fifth to fall behind 5-4. A John Starks homerun in the top of the ninth tied the score and sent the game to extra innings, but the Colonels allowed a two-out run-scoring single in the bottom of the 12th to fall to the Golden Eagles. Trailing 2-1 against Berea one day later, Centre allowed eight runs in the fifth and five more in the seventh to fall 15-1. The Colonels are now 2-8 overall and will play a non-conference game at home Wednesday against Thomas More College before traveling to LaGrange, Ga. for a three-game series Saturday and Sunday against LaGrange.

DePauw opened SCAC play at Rhodes and took the series, 2-1. The Tigers lost the opening game by a 1-0 score, but rallied to take Saturday's nightcap, 9-7. DePauw then blanked the Lynx in the third game by an 8-0 count. Brad Gerlach allowed just four singles, but Rhodes pushed across the eventual game winner in the sixth. In the nightcap, the Tigers trailed 7-4 after seven but plated three in the eighth on back-to-back two-out doubles by Alex Berlyn and Taylor Hoffman to tie the score. DePauw added two in the ninth for the win. Hoffman and Rob McPike each collected three of DePauw's 14 hits. Mike Peterson wrapped up the weekend by pitching a four-hit, complete game shutout in Sunday's series finale. He struck out nine and scattered four singles in nine innings. The Tigers totaled 14 hits for the second straight game led by Ben Gardner with three.

Hendrix ventured to the state of California for its 2009 Spring Break Road Trip and came away with a 1-3 record before falling to Southwestern in two games on Sunday. Two of the Warriors' losses during their four game road trip came to Top 25 teams (No. 9 Chapman University on 3/8 and No. 18 Cal Lutheran University on 3/9). Hendrix narrowly missed a chance to upset both teams as they lost 10-8 to Chapman and suffered a heartbreaking walk-off wild pitch loss to Cal Lutheran, 4-3. The Warriors then snapped a five-game slump with a 10-9 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday before falling to Pomona-Pitzer College 9-4 on Wednesday. The Pirates posted a 5-4 win in the opener and a 5-2 win in the nightcap.    

No. 6 Millsaps put together a 3-1 week to move to 19-2 overall at the midway point in the season. The Majors strung three consecutive wins together to start the week before having a 13-game winning streak snapped at Trinity on Sunday behind a stellar outing from TU's Evan Bronson. Millsaps knocked off rival MS College 11-4 on Tuesday thanks to a career-tying 7.0 innings on the hill from senior Drew Maddox and six different Majors with multiple hits. The Majors needed a heroic, solo home run from Will Hawkins to defeat Huntingdon on Wednesday, 9-8 in 12 innings, after squandering an 8-0 lead through three innings. A split in San Antonio over the weekend with a 10-0, run-rule win and 3-2 Sunday loss hit the Majors with their first defeat since Feb. 15. Three hits apiece from Jeremy Aliff and Josh Ordeneaux paced a Saturday win in seven innings before Bronson's 10-strikeout, three-hit performance for Trinity ended the streak. Millsaps was led by Hunter Owen who extended a 17-game hitting streak with a .400 week at the plate.

Oglethorpe won both of their games this past week to push their record to 8-6 on the season. The Petrels topped Haverford in a doubleheader, taking game one 3-2 and winning game two, 10-5. Game 1 was a pitcher's duel, as the game was scoreless entering the bottom of the fourth. In that inning, Andy Farrery brought home the first run of the game with an RBI single, scoring Brendan Pilger. Then J.J. Rizzo brought home Andrew Llano with a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0. The Petrels picked up an eventually valuable extra run in the inning after Haverford committed two errors on one play, dropping a fly ball and then committing a throwing error. This kept the inning alive for Jonathan McWhorter's RBI single, which added an unearned run. Daniel Sarisky pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the save. In Game 2, Andrew Llano went 3-for-5 with a home run, five RBIs, a stolen base and two runs scored. Mark Hoban pitched five innings for his third win of the season, The Petrels are back in action on Wednesday night when they face Arcadia on Anderson Field at 7:00 p.m.

Rhodes went 2-2 on the week defeating cross town rival, Christian Brothers 19-3 on Tuesday before going 1-2 vs. SCAC opponent DePauw. Rhodes won the first game of the weekend series with an outstanding pitching performance by Andy Holt as he threw a complete game shutout, scattering 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 9 in route to his 4th victory of the season. The Lynx offense was led by sophomore 3B Hunter Moore who was 2-2 on the day with a double, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI, and walked twice. Sophomore C Matt Frank went 2-4 on the day with two doubles and two runs scored. Senior SS J.R. Bizzell went 1-2 with an RBI. Junior SS Brooks Royer went 2-3 on the day with 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs, and a walk. Freshman CF Travis Perkins went 1-3 with 4 RBI, one run scored, and walked once. Sophomore Austin Marcum had a pinch hit grand slam in the seventh. The homerun was Marcum's first collegiate hit. Bizzell's hit was his 200th of his career making him the 21st player in the SCAC to join the elite club. 

Scott Baker tied the all-time Sewanee baseball win mark of 106 on Monday with a 12-2 rout of Framington State. Baker tied legendary coach Shirley Majors with the win. Sewanee was 2-3 since last week, picking up wins over SUNY-Purchase and Framington State after dropping a three-game SCAC series to Birmingham-Southern. The Tigers continue play this week at the Russ Matt Invitational in Florida. 

Southwestern went 2-1 overall this week and 2-0 in conference action. SU traveled to Abilene on Tuesday to face the University of Texas at Tyler. The Pirates were able to post one run in the first inning and held UTT scoreless through seven, but they tied the game up in the eighth.  UT Tyler captured the victory with a pair of singles and a Pirate error to load the bases with one out and a fly ball to deep center field drove in the game winning run. Senior second baseman Brent McMullen had a stellar day for the Pirates, going 3-3 from the plate and walking once. Sophomore catcher Nick Ashford also had a strong day hitting, going 2-3 with one walk. The Pirates swept a double header with the Hendrix winning, 5-4, and 5-2. SU opened the games strong scoring two runs in the first inning of both games. The Pirates' offense continued against Hendrix as they posted 22 hits over the two games. Wes Willis earned the win in game one and Brantley Freeman earned the win in game two for Southwestern. Kyle Belski had a monster afternoon going 4-7 with 5 RBI's and one run.

Trinity finished the week with a 1-4 record, losing two close games against Division I opponents, and splitting a weekend series with 12th-ranked Millsaps. Trinity opened the week with a 7-3 loss to Concordia (TX) on Tuesday night.  After having its opening game in the Irish Classic postponed, Trinity finally got on the diamond on Thursday.  The Tigers lost 11-6 to Illinois State. The Tigers then faced a daunting weekend task, hosting 12th-ranked and West Division-leading Millsaps College for a crucial two-game series in SCAC play, and also mixing in a game against Notre Dame on Saturday. Trinity suffered its first shutout since 2007, and one of its worst losses ever in SCAC play, as Millsaps took a convincing 10-0 win on Saturday afternoon.  The Tigers rebounded that evening against Notre Dame, taking a 3-0 lead in the sixth inning, then answering a five-run inning by Notre Dame with five runs of its own to lead 8-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Notre Dame eventually pulled out the 11-8 win over the Tigers. On Sunday, facing a series sweep, Trinity's Evan Bronson turned in one of the finest pitching performances of his stellar career, willing the Tigers to a 3-2 win over Millsaps. Bronson struck out 10 in the complete-game victory, snapping a 13-game winning streak by the Majors. Trinity plays just once this week, hosting Cardinal Stritch University on St. Patrick's Day (Tuesday).

For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 6, click here.