SUWANEE, Ga. - Birmingham-Southern and Trinity continued their respective torrid starts to the season as the Panthers extended their winning streak to nine games while the Tigers extended their streak to 11 straight wins last week. BSC and Trinity are a combined 23-2 on the season.
AROUND THE SCAC
Austin College split four games last week as the Kangaroos improved to 2-8 and 1-6 in SCAC play on the season. Austin College split with Bates (9-7 win, 7-6 loss) before splitting a two game conference series with Southwestern (4-3 win, 4-3 loss). 'Roos left fielder Shane Williams was 3 for 3 with two RBI in the win over Bates. Cullen Calabria picked up the win. Against Southwestern, Tyler Appelquist was 1 for 4 with two RBI in the win. Christian Curtis pitched 2.2 innings in relief in picking up the win. Austin College returns to action on March 1st at East Texas Baptist before traveling to SCAC rival Millsaps for a three game weekend set.
Birmingham-Southern (No. 9 – ABCA) kept rolling this week, winning three more games to extend its win streak to nine games. The Panthers swept a three-game series against Loyola-New Orleans on the road, winning 18-8 and 10-5 in a Saturday doubleheader, and winning 9-3 on Sunday. BSC returns home this weekend, taking on North Park University and Berry College on Saturday, and facing North Park again on Sunday.
Centre went 1-2 last week, splitting a doubleheader with Mount St. Joseph and then falling to Earlham. The Colonels opened the weekend falling 2-0 to the Lions in game one before bouncing back to win 5-1 for their first win of the season in game two of the twin-bill. Centre then had runners on second and third with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth against Earlham, but was unable to score and fell 2-0 to the Quakers Sunday. The Colonels posted a 1.57 team earned run average and .962 fielding percentage over the weekend but only hit .217. Centre will host Spalding in a doubleheader Wednesday and then play Calvin Friday and Saturday in a three-game series.
DePauw dropped the opening game of its doubleheader with Transylvania, but rallied for a 7-1 win in the nightcap to earn the split and move to 2-3 on the season. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the opener with an unearned run in the second before Transylvania scored two in the third, one in the fourth and four in the fifth. DePauw scored their final three runs in the ninth on an RBI single from Jason Cohen, a sacrifice fly by Alex Wright and a run-scoring single off the bat of Zach Galyean. The Tigers totaled 11 hits with Jason Cohen, Alex Wright and Sam Swafford collecting two apiece. Transylvania totaled 13 hits led by Elliot Desilets with three and two each from Drew Zuckerman and Ryan Troehler. Play was suspended due to lightning with Rob McPike batting in the top of the fifth and the game just one strike away from being official. When play resumed. McPike hit a 3-2 pitch for a two-run homer which scored Ben Gardner who had doubled prior to the delay. The Tigers added three more in the eighth.
Millsaps went 1-3 this weekend with four games at Piedmont. The Lions took game one of the series 2-1 in 13 innings on Friday afternoon. The Majors got a win in game one on Saturday against the Adrian College Bulldogs. In the Majors' seventh Will Hawkins drove in Kevin Wall and Jeremy Aliff to put the Majors up for good after a 3-3 tie in the first six innings. Aliff led the inning with a single and moved into scoring position after Drew Leonard was hit by a pitch. Kevin Wall reached on an error by the Bulldog shortstop and was moved into scoring position by a second error by the second baseman, setting up Hawkins' game-winning single. They lost the second game on Saturday to Piedmont 8-2 and then the final game on Sunday against the Bulldogs 16-8. The Majors will return to Jackson this week for a non-conference game at Mississippi College on Tuesday before they host the Austin Kangaroos on Saturday and Sunday.
Oglethorpe saw its bats go cold last week in dropping three games to Huntingdon and Maryville. The Hawks took a doubleheader from the Petrels last Tuesday winning game one, 5-2 and claiming game two, 7-2. The following night the Petrels lost at Maryville, 4-1 as the Scots were able to put the Petrel bats to sleep. Oglethorpe is now 3-6 on the season and will face Covenant College on Tuesday looking to get back into the win column.
Rhodes went 1-2 this week as they defeated Emory University 6-3 on Friday, fell to #12 Marietta 4-1 on Saturday night, and lost to Maryville 7-2 on Sunday afternoon. On Friday, sophomore Jackson Baker had his best outing of the young season, working 6 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 earned run, and struck out 8. On Saturday night, junior Austin Carden had an outstanding outing working 7 innings, surrendering 6 hits, 1 earned run, no walks, and struck out 7. On Sunday, sophomore Tony Pikos worked 6 innings, allowed 5 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 6. This week, the Lynx take on North Carolina Wesleyan on Tuesday and Wednesday in a mid-week series before traveling to Demorest, Ga. to take on Montclair State on Friday night, Piedmont on Saturday, and Capital on Sunday.
Sewanee went 1-2 on the week after splitting a doubleheader with Spalding on Saturday and falling to Maryville Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers dropped a 15-4 decision to a strong Maryville team early in the week. Sewanee scored first in the contest, but the Scots scored 12 unanswered runs on their way to the win. Alan Komorowski went 2-4 at the plate and Taylor Irwin drove in three of the Tigers' four RBIs. On Saturday, the Tigers split a doubleheader with Spalding after winning a come-from-behind thriller to start the day. Trailing 10-3 after four innings, Sewanee stormed back, scoring five runs in the fifth inning and three in the sixth to capture their first win of the season. Wilson Nealy got the win on the mound for the Tigers in the first game, but Spalding got the best of the Tigers in the second game, dropping the hosts 9-5. Simpson took the loss for Sewanee, as Joe Reilly led Sewanee with three hits in four at bats and drove in two runs. The Tigers are now 1-4 on the season and will take on Maryville Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Winchester, Tenn.
No. 20 Trinity swept its SCAC weekend series with Hendrix, improving the team's winning streak to 10 games, and moving to 5-0 in conference play. The Tigers won 10-2 and 8-5 in Saturday's doubleheader, then staged a comeback win in the finale on Sunday. After falling behind 7-4 late in the game, Trinity rallied and tied the game in the seventh. In the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Jackson hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to right field for the 8-7 victory. Over the weekend, senior Kyle Felix became the seventh player in Trinity history to reach 200 career hits. He has also tied for fifth in school history with 163 career RBI, and is second all-time with 55 doubles – needing just five more to break the record set by Kenneth Sharp from 2000-03. Trinity will take on Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday night in San Antonio. The Tigers defeated UMHB 16-5 on the road just a couple of weeks ago. Trinity will then host Dallas Christian in a Friday night doubleheader, before resuming SCAC play with a two-game series at Southwestern on Saturday and Sunday.
For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 4, click here.
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