MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Rhodes, DePauw and Trinity earned opening round wins on the first day of the 2011 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Championship tournament. Rhodes won the closest game, a 5-4 edging of Hendrix, as DePauw and Trinity won comfortably. Official Site
GAME ONE RECAP
Rhodes College junior right-hander Austin Carden fired a
complete-game and finished with five shutout innings to hand
Hendrix College a 5-4 loss in the opening game of the 2011 SCAC
Tournament on Thursday afternoon at USA Stadium. Box Score
Carden held Hendrix to just two hits in the last five innings and retired 10 consecutive batters over the last four frames. He improved to 4-6 on the season and allowed eight hits, seven strikeouts and no free passes.
Hendrix first year right-hander Will Harris started on the bump and had a solid appearance, despite a five-run rally for Rhodes in the third. Harris sent the first six batters he saw back to the dugout including two strikeouts in the second. He was replaced with one out in the seventh and fell to 1-4 on the year after allowing just six hits, four walks, and three strikeouts.
Hendrix reached the scoreboard first with a three-run rally in the second frame. First year Jacob Perschke and junior Andrew Thames got things started with back-to-back leadoff singles and junior Kyle Raskin loaded the bases on a bunt down the third base line.
First year Nick Richardson drove in Perschke with a single to left field before junior Aaron Bowen tagged a sac fly to score Thames. Junior Clark Sims pressured the defense with his speed and a throwing error by the shortstop scored Raskin.
Rhodes (22-17) stole the advantage with a five-run spree in the third, highlighted by a two-run homer to left field from sophomore Lynden Pindling. Prior to the homer, junior Matt Gilbert hit a one-run double and senior Andy Meier collected two runs on a base knock to left field.
The Warriors made it a one-run ball game in the fourth when Raskin clobbered his third triple of the year over the left fielder’s head. Richardson sent his second run across the plate with a grounder through the right side to score Raskin and make it a 5-4 contest.
Raskin finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Richardson went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Thames gunned down two runners from behind the plate. Thames and Perschke were both 1-for-4 win one run scored.
Hendrix falls to 15-20 on the year and 32-44 all-time against Rhodes. The Lynx own a 1-1 record against the Warriors in 2011 as Rhodes took a 5-4 decision in the last match-up on March 24.
The Warriors will now play the opening game on Thursday at 12 p.m. CT against the loser of #2W-Millsaps College (24-16) and #2E-DePauw University (15-18).
Rhodes will play the winner of the Millsaps vs. DePauw game in the second game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. CT.
GAME TWO RECAP
DePauw scored six times in the bottom of the eighth and defeated
Millsaps, 7-2, in the opening day of the Southern Collegiate
Athletic Conference Baseball Championship. Box Score
DePauw improved to 16-18, while the Majors dropped to 24-17. The Tigers face Trinity tomorrow at 7 p.m., while Millsaps faces Hendrix at Noon CDT.
The Majors broke a scoreless tie in the fifth as Drew Leonard singled and moved to second on a throwing error by the pitcher. Jeremy Aliff then walked before Jules Roussel reached on an error which allowed both runners to score.
DePauw cut the lead in half in the sixth on Zach Galyean's solo homer. Galyean led off the eighth by reaching on an error and moving to second on Rob McPike's sacrifice bunt. Jason Cohen singled home Galyean and then stole second. Alex Wright followed with a base hit plating Cohen.
Robbie Stein and Sam Swafford followed with singles to load the bases. Aaron Henry reached on a fielder's choice which forced out Wright at the plate, but Zach Starr and Ben Gardner drew run-scoring walks. Galyean then delivered a two-run single to round out the scoring.
DePauw totaled 11 hits led by Galyean and Wright with three each. Galyean drove in three. Four different Majors collected one hit apiece.
Hobs Donovan improved to 5-4 on the season while striking out six in the complete game win, while Jason Riggins dropped to 5-1.
Millsaps was led by Roussel, Leonard, Josh Ordeneaux and Jake Mills as the quartet combined for the Majors only four hits the entire afternoon.
GAME THREE RECAP
The defending champion Trinity Tiger baseball team opened the SCAC
Championship Tournament with a 10-1 victory over the Oglethorpe
Stormy Petrels at USA Stadium on Thursday night. Box Score
Trinity (30-11), No. 1 in the West Division, meets DePauw (No. 2 East) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Tigers won the 2010 title with a victory over DePauw, which beat Millsaps 7-2 on Thursday.
Oglethorpe will square off against East Division rival Rhodes at 3:30 p.m. CT.
The six-team double-elimination tournament continues through Sunday, with the winner guaranteed a slot in the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Catcher Kyle Felix opened the scoring for Trinity with an RBI in the bottom of the first inning. The Tigers scored three runs in the second inning, keyed by a leadoff home run by outfielder Kevin Calbick, his fifth homer of the season.
Oglethorpe, which lost to the Tigers in last year's opening tournament game, scored a run in the top of the third inning.
Trinity scored two unearned runs in the bottom half of the third inning, and then Felix exploded for a solo home run to right field in the fifth. Felix, the Tigers all-time home run and RBI leader, now has 13 round-trippers to his credit this season.
The Tigers added three runs in the eighth, on an error by the Petrels right fielder.
Felix batted 3-5 with two runs, two RBI, and a double to go with his home run. Calbick hit 3-4 with an RBI and one run; and outfielder Kevin Jackson went 2-4 with two RBI and two runs.
Right-handed pitcher Michael Panozzo was Trinity's starter, and hurled for seven innings. Panozzo, who remained undefeated at 5-0, allowed one earned run, four hits, three walks, and struck out two batters.
Right-handers Franklin Bay and Jonathan Hall pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, and allowed one hit. Bay fanned two batters, and Hall had three strikeouts.
Oglethorpe was led by catcher Jeff Brothers and designated-hitter Joseph Parillo. Both Brothers and Parillo tallied multi-hits for the Stormy Petrels as the duo were both 2 for 4 from the plate. Parillo scored Oglethorpe’s lone run on the night.
Trinity scored five earned runs, smacked 12 hits, and made one error. Oglethorpe committed three errors in the game.
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