Tied 3-3 after seven innings, freshman second baseman Sam Spees (Dayton, Ohio) hit a three-run home run and the Centre College baseball team went on to defeat No. 21 Millsaps (ABCA Top 25) 7-4 Friday, March 22 in Jackson, Miss.
Millsaps (12-7 overall, 4-3 SAA) took an early 1-0 lead when Samuel Doucet drove in Stephen Gate with a two-out sacrifice fly, and then made it 2-0 on a Wes Perkins RBI single in the third.
The Colonels broke through in the fifth with a pair of runs to tie the game. Spees scored the first run on a throwing error followed by a run-scoring single by senior Aaron Ammann (Winnetka, Calif.).
One inning later, Spees drove in junior Kyle Cook (Maineville, Ohio) on a one-out single up the middle to give Centre a 3-2 lead.
After a two-out solo home run by Perkins in the seventh tied the game at three, the Colonels put runners on first and second with one out. Spees worked a full count and then hit the next pitch over the left field fence for his first collegiate home run and a 6-3 Centre lead.
Senior starting pitcher Joe Nash (Elizabethtown, Ky.) battled all game, but left in the eighth with one out and the bases loaded. Sophomore Trey Litsey (Louisville, Ky.) entered and got a ground ball back to him. He quickly threw home for the first out and junior catcher Chris Duzyk (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) threw to first for the bases-loaded, inning-ending double play.
Cook added an insurance run in the top of the ninth with his first home run of the season, a solo shot to right field, and Litsey allowed only a solo run in the ninth to collect his second save of the season.
Nash scattered 14 hits in 7.1 innings and allowed three runs. He struck out three and did not walk a batter to win his fourth straight decision and improve to 4-2.
Ammann, Litsey and Spees all finish with multi-hit games. Ammann went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Litsey collected two hits and scored a run, and Spees went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.
Centre and Millsaps will return to action Saturday, March 23 for game two of the series. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. CDT in Jackson, Miss.