MILLINGTON, Tenn. – Isaac Glenn lined a Kyle Hamby pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to the left-center field gap to score Blake Littlejohn from second as third-seeded Millsaps nipped the second-seeded Salisbury University baseball team, 7-6, in the NCAA South Regional championship game on Saturday at USA Stadium.
Millsaps (38-12), which defeated the Sea Gulls, twice in three days in the regional, advance to the NCAA Division III College World Series in Grand Chute, Wis., beginning Friday at Fox Cities Stadium.
Trailing, 6-5, entering the ninth inning, the Sea Gulls knotted game, 6-6, as Quinn Griffith's sinking line drive fell in front of right fielder William Chenoweth to score Kyle Hayman, who started the inning with a single.
Hayman stole second on the first pitch to Nick Gentry and moved to third on his sacrifice bunt.
Hamby walked both pinch hitter Annon Etheridge and Littlejohn to begin the bottom of the ninth. Hamby erased the pinch runner Will Elmore at third on sacrifice bunt attempt, for the first out, and struck Samuel Doucet out for the second, before Glenn won it for the Majors.
The Gulls (33-6) took an early 3-0 lead, knocking out Millsaps starter Will Edwards after just 2/3 of an inning. Edwards retired Hayman to start the game, but gave up consecutive singles to Gentry and Griffith. Chenoweth threw the ball away on Griffith's base hit, allowing Gentry to score on the play for a 1-0 lead. An Evan Graci walk and Johnny Schiotis single loaded the bases before Ken O'Neill reached on a fielder's choice to second. The ball was thrown away again, scoring Griffith for a 2-0 lead.
Austin Barefoot then singled home Graci and sent Edwards packing.
Millsaps got to Salisbury's Andrew Levy for two in its half of the inning on a Wes Perkins RBI single with one out that plated Stephen Gates, while Perkins scored on an error, two batters later.
The Majors took their first lead, 4-3, with two more in the bottom of the second. Chenoweth hit a triple to right field to plate Glenn, and Jerrod Myers scored Chenoweth with a grounder to second base.
SU reclaimed a 5-4 edge with two in the fourth. Bill Root led off with a single up the middle and Hayman doubled Root to third prior to a Gentry groundout to shortstop. Griffith ripped a pitch to center field, which Glenn tracked down, but it was enough to chase home Hayman for the lead.
Millsaps tied it at 5-5 in the bottom of the frame and took a 6-5 advantage in the seventh when Doucet executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt with one out to score Perkins.
Gates finished 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI to pace Millsaps. Perkins chipped in with two hits and a two runs.
Both Griffith and Graci were 3-for-4 with a runs scored; Griffith also knocked in a pair of runs.
Hamby took the loss in 2 2/3 innings to fall to 1-2. Harper Grier pitched the final five innings for Millsaps to improve to 7-2.
Salisbury sophomore Brett Collacchi threw eight innings, scattering six hits and three runs to help the Sea Gulls top No. 1-seed Huntingdon College, 9-3, to advance to the championship game.
SU pulled away from the Hawks with seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Schiotis led the way, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored as SU banged out 12 hits.
Salisbury took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Huntingdon (32-11). Hayman led off the game with a double down the left-field line and Gentry singled him to third. Gentry swiped second base for his 23rd steal of the season prior to consecutive groundballs that scored Hayman and Gentry.
The Hawks cut the lead in half with a run in the fifth inning, but the Gulls plated four in the seventh to take a 6-1 edge. SU sent 10 batters to the plate and received an RBI triple from Hayman, an RBI double from Schiotis and a run-scoring single by O'Neill.
A pair of sacrifice flies for Huntingdon's Caleb Astin and Joseph Odom made it a 6-3 game before a bases-loaded walk from Graci and a two-run double down the right-field line in the eighth accounted for the final margin.
Collacchi improved to 7-2 while striking out four and walking four.
Hayman and Gentry joined Schiotis with multiple hits against Huntingdon with three and two, respectively. Hayman also scored three times and Gentry twice.
Hayman, Schiotis and Collacchi each earned spots on the regional all-tournament team.