The Oglethorpe baseball team fell in both games of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon in Alabama, falling to the homestanding Birmingham-Southern Panthers 11-2 in Game 1 and 8-0 in Game 2. The results dropped the Stormy Petrels to 9-23 overall and 5-10 in SAA play.
The Petrels got on the board first in Game 1, scoring a run in the third on a solo home run by junior second baseman Austin Jackson. However, the Panthers soon had an answer, scoring three runs over the course of the fourth and fifth innings to take a 3-1 lead.
Oglethorpe pulled to within a single run in the sixth off another solo homer, this one by senior right fielder Patrick Burnette. With the score 3-2, though, Birmingham-Southern responded with a run in the seventh, followed by a huge seven-run outburst in the eighth which put the game away.
Jackson led the Petrels for the game, going 3-for-5 with the home run. Senior left fielder Jacob Gassert added a 2-for-4 afternoon.
Junior right-hander Noah Cole suffered the loss, but kept the Petrels in the game. He allowed just three runs on five hits, four walks and two hit batsmen over five innings. Cole struck out four.
The Petrels never could find their footing in the second game of the day. They managed just three hits over the course of the seven-inning game. The Panthers took control of the proceedings with a seven-run third inning. From there, they added another tally in the eighth for the final margin.
The Petrels return to the field Tuesday at 3 p.m. when they travel across town to take on Emory. After that, they'll host Hendrix in April 13 and 14 in their final SAA home series of the season.