March 3, 2017

SCIAC swings back into action

More news about: Covenant | Occidental | St. Mary-s (Minn.) | Whittier
Luke Harvey's steal of second in the third inning was the 56th of Harvey's career and broke the Covenant program record as Harvey passed Will Cleland's 55 steals.
Covenant photo by Saundra Baker
Matt Reitz turned in his best start of the season and Joel Johnson hit a go-ahead two-run home run to cap a three run sixth inning to give Covenant a 3-2 win over Maryville on Friday afternoon. Reitz was masterful throughout. The sophomore right-hander struck out the side in the first inning and had a career-high 10 punch outs on the day. Reitz surrendered just four hits and one earned run to pick up his first nine-inning complete-game of his career.

Nichols opened its 2017 season with a 9-1 win over Framingham State in non-conference action. Junior Cam Cook collected a game-high three hits to go with a pair of RBI's and two stolen bases to lead the Bison to only their second season-opening win in the last six seasons. Nichols received a nice pitching outing from senior Adam Rigney, who did not allow a run through the first five frames while striking out eight Rams on only three hits and four walks. Junior Vincent Amato pitched the final four innings allowing one run (unearned) on no hits while striking out four.

Martin Luther opened the 2017 season with a doubleheader split against Finlandia on day one of its annual Florida trip. The Knights won game one 3-1, but lost game two 7-0. Jon Kock tossed a complete game gem to give the Knights a 3-1 win in the season opener. in the nightcap, the Lions roared back with three runs in the second and third innings on the way to a 7-0 win.

Jack Thompson and Zack Wade homered to lead DePauw to a 6-1 victory over Greenville. Thompson hit a solo shot in the top of the first to open the scoring up for DePauw. Greenville's lone run of the game came in the bottom of the inning to tie it up, but Wade's two-run shot in the third inning put DePauw up for good. The Tigers scored two more runs in the sixth when Collin Einertson doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on a Joey Plesac single. Max Cohen eventually brought Plesac home on a sacrifice fly. DePauw scored their final run in the top of the ninth when Thompson doubled to start the inning and scored via a single from Tate Stewart. The team finished with 10 hits.

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor seems to have found its magic number as the Cru scored twice in the tenth innings to post a 9-7 victory over Hardin-Simmons in ten innings in Abilene. UMHB has now won back-to-back games by identical 9-7 scores thanks to late rallies.

Southern Virginia earned a 15-0 win over John Jay, in game one of a three-game trip to Myrtle Beach. Right-hander Tayler Peterson threw the complete-game shutout, striking out seven Bloodhounds and only allowing five hits in 35 batters faced.

Ferrum routed Methodist 14-0 in the USA South Athletic Conference baseball opener for both schools this afternoon at Armstrong-Shelley Field. Ferrum scored a run each in the first and second innings, then added four in the third, four in the fifth and four in the seventh before the game was halted by mutual agreement. Hunter Peck pitched a complete seven-inning on-hit game to get the win with 12 strikeouts. Clay Richardson broke up Peck's no-hitter with a seventh-inning single for the Monarchs.

Ben Buerkle led the Cardinal offensive attack in theloss to Rockford, going 3-for-4—including a second-inning double for his 200th collegiate hit.
St. Mary's (Minn.) athletics photo

Rockford competed in their second game on the day, taking on Saint Mary's (Minn.). The Regents and Cardinals played a tightly contested game until the eighth inning when Rockford blew the game open with a seven run inning. The inning gave the Regents an 11-3 advantage. Rockford would not allow another run to ultimately win by the final of 11-3. Rockford defeated Alma 5-2 earlier in the day and St. Mary's (Minn.) had an 11-7 win over Alma.

Oglethorpe got their SAA season off to a fantastic start at Anderson Field. They got an outstanding pitching performance from junior right-hander Matt Davis and swung the bats extremely well, bludgeoning Rhodes 10-0 in a game that was called after eight innings due to the 10-run rule. Davis did not allow a hit through five-and-two-thirds innings, and finished his outing with 12 strikeouts over his 7 shutout innings of work. He allowed just 2 hits, walking just a single Rhodes batter and allowing three more to reach via hit-by-pitch.

Catholic earned a 9-1 victory over Washington College. Catholic junior Danny O'Hagan led the Cardinals at the plate going 4-of-5 with a double and a pair of RBIs and runs. Sophomore Mason Belcher opened the game on the rubber for Catholic, throwing five innings. Freshman Colin Cunningham pitched two innings of relief and earned his first career win as a Cardinal.

Jack Brancheau homered, Devon DeRaad had a pair of doubles and Occidental took game one from Caltech on Friday, 10-6 in the first of a three-game series this weekend. DeRaad went 2-for-5 with a RBI and a run scored, to go along with his doubles. Oxy outfielder Bryan Smith, who's been red hot all season, had another big day, going 2-for-3 with a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs.

LeTourneau used big bats in the third inning to run away with a 10-3 win over Austin in Sherman.  After the Roos jumped out a 3-0 lead in the first inning, LETU used nine hits, including two doubles to score 10 runs and put AC down for good.  The YellowJackets earned their fourth win of the season improving to 4-6 overall. It is their second win over the Roos, as the two teams squared off in a single game on opening weekend (Feb. 11).

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