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.