The Oglethorpe baseball team ran into some good pitching Friday evening in Mount Berry and couldn't overcome it in an 8-2 defeat at the hands of the Berry Vikings. The Stormy Petrels were held scoreless through the opening eight innings on Friday. They tallied their two runs in the eighth, but the Vikings were able to put the game away in the bottom half of the inning. The result dropped the Petrels to 16-16 on the year overall and 6-10 in SAA play.
The Petrels ran into a good pitching performance from Berry starter Trey Rampy, as he threw 7 shutout innings. Oglethorpe fell behind 1-0 in the second, then the Vikings added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, building a 3-0 advantage. They added another pair of runs in the sixth to take a 5-0 lead.
Junior right-hander Matt Davis suffered the loss, allowing 5 runs on 10 hits over 6 innings. Only three of those runs were earned, however, as the Petrels committed a pair of errors on the evening. Davis dropped to 5-3 on the season.
Oglethorpe did come back with a pair of tallies in the eighth. Senior right fielder Brandon Fish led off the frame with a home run to make the score 5-1, then sophomore first baseman Andrew Mink followed two batters later with another solo homer, making the score 5-2.
However, Berry put the game away with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning, building their lead to its final 6-run margin.
Junior left fielder Britton Araujo went 3-for-4 on the evening, while Mink officially went 1-for-2 with a home run, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
"We just have to tip our cap to Berry's pitcher tonight," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "He came into the game with a great game plan and executed it well. We'll adjust and come out tomorrow ready to go."
The Petrels will return to Mount Berry on Saturday to take on the Vikings in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. After that, they'll take on both Huntingdon and Piedmont on the road midweek before returning home for a big 3-game series with Hendrix to wind down the regular season.