The Oglethorpe baseball team was swept by Millsaps in a doubleheader Saturday at Anderson Field, losing Game 1, 10-5, and falling in Game 2, 17-7. The losses drop the Stormy Petrels to 17-21 on the season, 5-14 in SAA play, and mean they finish seventh in league for the regular season.
In Game 1, the Petrels fell behind the visiting Majors 2-0 in the first inning, but got one of those runs back in the second on an RBI groundout by left fielder Andre Turnquest to make it 2-1. Millsaps answered back with three in the fourth, two of them unearned, putting Oglethorpe behind 5-1. The Petrels made the score 5-2 in the fifth when senior catcher Hunter Riley came through on Senior Day, driving in a run with a single up the middle. However, two more Major runs scored in the top of the sixth, putting them ahead 7-2.
In each of the two games on the day, the Petrels had a big comeback that put them right back in the thick of the game. In Game 1, that comeback came in the bottom of the sixth. After a Patrick Kulick one-out double, the inning was kept alive with a Millsaps error. That allowed right fielder Joey McAlpin the opportunity to rip an RBI single up the middle. Second baseman Keith Dearden followed with a two-run home run down the left-field line. The three-run sixth inning brought the Petrels back to within two, 7-5.
However, those were the last runs the Petrels would score. Millsaps put across an insurance run in the seventh, then put the game away with two more in the ninth.
Petrel starter Ryan Brennan suffered the loss, allowing three earned runs on seven hits over three-plus innings. He walked three and struck out one. He falls to 1-5 on the season. McAlpin had a good game at the plate for the Petrels, going 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Game 2 started much the same way for the Stormy Petrels as Game 1 had, as Oglethorpe gave up a pair of runs in the early-going. The Petrels got both of them back in the bottom half of the first, however. Designated hitter Kulick drove in a run with a groundout and Ferlita followed with an RBI single, tying the game. Millsaps came back with three more in the second, however, giving themselves a 5-2 lead. They'd extend that lead in the fifth, adding on three more for a commanding 8-2 advantage.
However, the Petrels came up with a huge rally in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five runs to get right back in the game. After a Ferlita double and a Dearden single, senior first baseman Frank Sarno singled through the right side of the infield to score a run, making the score 8-3. After a single from shortstop Spencer Transue, pinch hitter Jake Purcell came through with a two-run single to make it 8-5. Then, after a Turnquest walk, Kulick drove in two more runs with a single two batters later and drew Oglethorpe within one, 8-7.
However, the bottom fell out for the Petrels in the sixth, just as it looked like they'd worked their way back into the thick of the game. The Majors scored eight times in the sixth and blew the game open, pushing ahead 16-7. They added another run in the seventh and cruised from there, winning 17-7.
Starter Sam Franklin suffered the loss, falling to 1-3 on the season. He allowed four earned runs on five hits and two walks over 1-1/3 innings of work. Reliever Sam Traxler came in and threw 2-2/3 innings of shutout relief to help keep his team in the game, but the Petrels' pitching staff couldn't hold on, in the end.
Ferlita went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in Game 2. Transue went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored, while Kulick went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Turnquest was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
The Petrels will now hold the No. 7 seed in the upcoming SAA Tournament, and will travel to Mount Berry, Ga., home of No. 2 seed Berry, for a four-team double-elimination competition also featuring No. 3 seed Rhodes and No. 6 seed Centre. Oglethorpe will take on Berry in Game 1 of the competition on Friday. If they win, they'll play the winner of the Rhodes-Centre game. If Oglethorpe should lose, they'll play the loser of that contest in an elimination game. The other four teams in the league will travel to Birmingham, Ala., for the other half of the tournament.
Before that, however, the Petrels will host their home finale Monday against LaGrange at Anderson Field. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. In addition, the team has just added a road game against Division I Georgia State Tuesday at 6 p.m. That game will take place across town in the Panthersville area of Atlanta at the Georgia State athletic facility there.