Conway, Ark. - Rhodes College baseball defeated No. 1 seeded Hendrix College 12-6 Sunday. The win marks Rhodes' 23rd straight first round win, pushing the Lynx to their sixth consecutive SAA Championship Series appearance.
A hit by pitch, walk and two doubles gave Rhodes a 3-0 lead before the Lynx tallied another run in the fourth inning. Hendrix cut their lead to two in the bottom of the inning on two singles, a double and a sacrifice fly. A single and a double in the fifth brought Hendrix within one, but Rhodes recorded seven runs across the sixth and seventh innings to take an 11-3 lead. In the seventh inning, the Lynx posted four hits, a hit by pitch and a walk to score five runs. With runners on first and second, Jacob Telli walked, setting a new conference record for single season walks (44). Brady John took advantage and tripled in Telli, Zach Liebenson and Ben Wilson after Hendrix just switched pitchers. Rhodes would score again in the ninth as Hendrix closed out their season with two runs in their final at-bats.
John went 3-for-6 with five RBI while Wilson went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Peter York went 3-for-5 at the plate as did Liebenson.Trey Sledge picked up the win with four strikeouts over 4.1 innings. Matt Dale closed out the final two innings, striking out three batters.
Rhodes will travel to co-regular season champion Birmingham-Southern College this weekend for the three-game championship series. Check back as official times/dates will be released on Monday, April 29th.
BSC/Rhodes notes:
BSC has won five of the last six SAA regular season titles.
Rhodes has won three of the last four SAA tournament championships with BSC winning in 2016.
Both teams advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2014, 2015 and 2017, marking BSC's last appearance.
The Lynx are looking for their third straight NCAA appearance.