SUWANEE, Ga. - Week seven of the 2009 season was highlighted by dominant pitching performances. Rhodes' Colby Mattheson and Trinity's Evan Bronson both threw complete game shutouts, both struck out 12 and both faced just five batters over the minimum in nine innings. Millsaps' Aaron Williams pitched a complete game and Oglethorpe's Mark Hoban struck out 14 over eight innings in a win over Arcadia.

Elsewhere around the SCAC, for the fifth consecutive week the Millsaps College Majors moved up in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll. The Majors moved up one spot to fifth and also receieved three first-place votes. Birmingham-Southern continued to receieve votes in this week's poll as well.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin split its four games last week, shutting out McMurry 3-0 before dropping two of three against Southwestern over the weekend. Against McMurry, four pitchers combined to give up just five hits and Bennett Herrick knocked in a pair of runs in the win. On Saturday the 'Roos took the opener against Southwestern 18-8 behind 19 hits, including three apiece from Scooter Merritt, Jordan Robison and Sean Muder, and John Schulmeister worked 3.1 solid innings in relief to earn the victory. In the second game the Pirates put seven runs up in the first inning and jumped out to a 12-1 lead after two and never looked back, handing the 'Roos a 17-1 loss. On Sunday the 'Roos were limited to just four hits, falling 7-0 despite Will Chermak's 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings of relief work. 

Birmingham-Southern (16-4, 3-0) went 2-1 last week with two non-conference opponents.  First, the Panthers split a two-game series with Wisconsin-Platteville on Sunday and Monday. The Pioneers got the better of BSC in game one, winning 6-3, but the Panthers got even in game two, 12-1 in a full nine innings. BSC's powerful offense unloaded for six runs in the bottom of the first to put the game away in a hurry. They kept the momentum from that game rolling into Tuesday's single game with Tennessee Temple, defeating the Crusaders 12-7. The Panthers scored eleven runs in two innings in the game to win going away. The Panthers remain at home this weekend when they will resume conference-play, hosting Oglethorpe for a three-game weekend set.  Game one is scheduled for 6:30 on Friday at Striplin Field. 

Centre played four times this past week falling 12-7 at home to Thomas More Wednesday and then winning one of three games against LaGrange on the weekend. The Colonels led LaGrange in game one 8-4 into the bottom of the eighth inning, but allowed four runs in the inning and a walk-off homerun in the ninth to fall 9-8. Game two saw the Centre trail the Panthers 7-5 heading into the top of the eighth, but scored eight runs to earn a 13-7 win and split the doubleheader. The Colonels then allowed five first inning runs in game three of the series and were not able to recover falling 21-4. Centre will play Emory Tuesday, Piedmont Thursday and then open SCAC play against Rhodes on the weekend in Memphis.

DePauw opened play at the Russmatt Tournament in Winter Haven, Fla., with a pair of losses as they dropped a 3-1 decision to 22nd-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the first game and 7-3 game with St. Thomas (Minn.) in the second contest. In the first game, DePauw totaled nine hits but left eight runners stranded. Justin Weiner, Chris Schenk and Rob McPike each collected two hits. Brad Gerlach allowed just six hits in six innings in dropping to 3-2 on the year. DePauw and St. Thomas entered the eighth inning tied at 2-2, but the Tommies scored two in the eighth and three in the ninth for the win. Weiner led the Tigers with two of their seven hits, while Alex Wright drove in a pair and Jon Newman scored two. Hobs Donovan took the loss after allowing three earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. DePauw plays four more games in Florida before traveling to Sewanee for an SCAC series next weekend.

Hendrix went 3-2 on the week with a doubleheader sweep of Central Baptist College on Tuesday and a three-game set against No. 6 Millsaps College over the weekend. The Warriors combined for 23 hits and 20 runs, while senior CF Daniel Ward, sophomore 1B Jeff Forgerson and sophomore DH Brad Grinstead all hit a home run to lift the Warriors past CBC. Hendrix won the opener, 7-2, and took the nightcap 13-2. Hendrix dropped its first game against the Majors on Saturday behind a strong performance from Millsaps' sophomore RHP Aaron Williams who retired nine straight batters and held Hendrix scoreless in the last seven innings for the 5-2 win. Warriors' senior CF Daniel Ward went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and four RBI to lead the Warriors past the Majors, 13-12, in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader. Hendrix will host Trinity in a three-game series this weekend.

No. 5 Millsaps posted its second consecutive 3-1 week on the diamond, knocking off Illinois Wesleyan 5-3 on Tuesday before winning 2 of 3 games at Hendrix College over the weekend to secure their 11th consecutive series win over the Warriors. The Majors moved to 22-3 overall and 10-3 in league play, stretching their SCAC West lead to three games over Southwestern. Senior OF Hunter Owen posted a .615 week at the plate (8-for-13) which included four RBI, three doubles, three runs and a home run. On the mound, the week was highlighted by dominant pitching performances from Tait Hendrix and Aaron Williams who each picked up their fifth wins while combining for 16 strikeouts and just three runs (one earned) in 14.2 innings of work. The Majors will continue a six-game road swing this weekend, traveling to Austin College.

Oglethorpe ran its winning streak to seven games by winning all four of their contests this past week. The seven-game win streak is the longest for the Petrels since a similar seven-game streak from April 5 to April 20 in 1997. With the streak, Oglethorpe has pushed its record to 12-6 on the season and continues to look poised to make upward strides in the conference. The Petrels used dominating pitching performances in two wins each over Arcadia and Bates to finish up the perfect week. Oglethorpe dominated Arcadia 13-1 in the first of their two-game set before settling in to pitching duels in the final three games of the week. In Game Two against Arcadia, the Petrels prevailed 2-1 on the strong arm of John Hale who pitched 7 innings as Oglethorpe pushed across the winning run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning. On Saturday, the Petrels took a doubleheader from Bates by edging their opponent 2-1 in Game One and 3-1 in Game Two. Matt Cornwell pitched a complete game in the first victory that saw Chris Lucas score on a game-winning RBI by Jonathan McWhorter. The Petrels travel to Birmingham-Southern this weekend for a three game set.

Rhodes went 3-2 on their Spring Break trip to Winter Haven, Fla. Rhodes defeated Ripon College 9-0 on Tuesday behind an outstanding pitching performance by freshman Colby Mattheson. Mattheson threw a complete game shutout in his first collegiate start, on the day he went 9 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 12. Rhodes then lost to UW-Stevens Point 8-6 in 10 innings on Wednesday. On Friday, Rhodes split a double header with Anderson, winning the first game 3-2, before dropping the second 3-2.  Senior Andy Holt turned in yet another strong pitching performance, throwing his second complete game of the year, working 7 innings, 3 hits, walked 2, and struck out 5. Rhodes then defeated Franklin & Marshall 17-13 on Saturday. Offensively, Rhodes was led by Sophomore C Chris Conkell who was 9-21 on the week, hitting .429 with 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, and scored 5 runs, walked once, got hit by 3 pitches, and stole 3 bases. Rhodes will return to action on Tuesday at Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss. and then take on Centre College at home this weekend. 

Sewanee went 4-3 on the week at the Russ Matt Invitational in Winter Haven Florida and Coach Scott Baker surpassed legendary coach Shirley Majors as the all-time Sewanee wins leader. He currently has 108 wins and the Tigers are 6-11 and will host Maryville College on Wednesday before hosting DePauw in SCAC play this weekend. 

Southwestern finished the week with a 3-2 record, going 2-1 in conference play. Tuesday, the Pirates faced off against Concordia University-Austin at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas. Southwestern scored 9 runs in the final three innings to take the win. SU followed with a night game against visiting Cardinal Stritch on Wednesday. CSU put five runs on the board in the first two innings and never looked back, defeating Southwestern 9-4. Austin College came to Georgetown over the weekend to finish their series with Southwestern. The Pirates trailed by one run, 7-6, after five innings but an eight run sixth by the Roos' was insurmountable and Southwestern fell 18-8. In game two the Pirates left no room for Austin College as the Pirates posted 12 runs in the first two innings and then five more in the fourth to win 17-1. Sunday, the Pirates scored seven runs in the second inning and held Austin College scoreless in large part to the stellar pitching of Brantley Freeman who went eight innings and allowed just four hits. Southwestern will return to action on March 31st for another game against Concordia-Austin at Dell Diamond.

Trinity posted a 3-0 record last week, defeating Cardinal Stritch on St. Patrick's Day, then swept a two-game weekend series against the University of Dallas. The Tigers improved to 9-0 on St. Patrick's Day under head coach Tim Scannell, beating Cardinal Stritch for the second straight year on the holiday. Noah Solomon struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight innings of work, while Dylan Early crushed two home runs to lead the team to victory. After originally having the weekend off, Trinity scheduled additional games on Saturday and Sunday, hosting Dallas in a two-game series. The Tigers met Dallas for the first time since the 2004 season. Trinity was, highlighted by Evan Bronson's stellar pitching performance in the finale. Bronson struck out 12 in a complete-game, five-hit shutout - his second consecutive complete-game victory. Trinity will face Texas Lutheran on Tuesday night at E.M. Stevens Field, completing the regular season series. Over the weekend, Trinity and Hendrix will square off in a critical SCAC series in Conway, Ark. The Tigers and Warriors will play a three-game weekend series, beginning on Saturday.

For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 7, click here.