The Oglethorpe baseball team got its three-game, SAA road series at Millsaps off to an excellent start Saturday night, defeating the home-standing Majors 10-5 on a wet Twenty Field in Jackson, Miss. With the victory, the Stormy Petrels improve to 8-6 on the season, 1-3 in SAA play.
The game was played on a wet field which caused Saturday's scheduled doubleheader to be postponed until Sunday and Sunday's single game to be moved forward to Saturday and then to be delayed until 6:30 p.m. local time. However, the wet grounds did not bother the Petrels, as they jumped all over the Majors, who are currently receiving votes in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll. It marks Oglethorpe's second consecutive victory over an opponent receiving votes in that poll, as they defeated Huntingdon 11-10 on Tuesday night.
The squad got another excellent starting performance from sophomore right-hander Matt Davis, who improves to 3-1 on the season. He shut down the high-powered Millsaps offense pretty much the entire night, allowing just four hits and a run over seven innings of work. He did allow a total of 11 baserunners, but was able to work around any trouble, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and stranding seven Millsaps baserunners on the night. Meanwhile, junior shortstop Spencer Transue starred at the plate for the Petrels, going 2-for-5 with a double, three RBIs, two stolen bases, and a run scored.
The Petrels got off to an excellent start in the first, as senior left fielder Andre Turnquest led off the game with a triple and was driven home on a Transue groundout. That was all the scoring until the fourth, as Davis shut down the Millsaps lineup, maintaining Oglethorpe's 1-0 lead. In the fourth, junior second baseman Keith Dearden led things off with a double, senior right fielder Joey McAlpin reached on an error, and freshman catcher Adrian Celata singled to load the bases. Freshman first baseman Dee Kelly followed with a single to center to drive in a run, then Turnquest drove in another on a fielder's choice in which Millsaps didn't record an out. The Petrels scored two more runs on an error and finished the fourth with a 5-0 lead. The Majors came back with a run in the fifth to make it 5-1, but the Petrels answered back half-an-inning later.
Kelly singled to lead off the inning, then advanced to second when senior center fielder Vernon Trice reached on an error. Transue came to the plate two batters later and drove in a run with anRBI single and the Petrels scored one more on another error after that, giving themselves a commanding 7-1 lead after six innings. Given the way Davis was pitching, that lead looked to be almost insurmountable.
The Petrels added two more still in the eighth. Trice doubled to lead off the inning and stole third, which was followed by a Transue double for his third RBI of the game. He later came around to score on a wild pitch, making the score 9-1. The Petrels added one more run in the ninth afterMillsaps got one back in the bottom of the eighth. Sophomore outfielder Brandon Fish recorded a one-out, pinch-hit double and was driven home with a Trice single. Millsaps scored three runs in the ninth, but Oglethorpe junior right-hander Joseph Marco got out of the jam, leaving the bases loaded.
"I really like how we came out today and played with confidence," said Head Coach Dan Giordano. "We were very focused from the first batter all the way to the last out. Andre set the tone with the lead-off triple and guys just kept putting together good at-bats. Matt Davis battled and held a very good lineup in check. Our guys believe we are going to win every time he steps on the mound.
"It's good to take Game 1," he continued. "We are here to win a series and that's our focus heading into tomorrow. Millsaps has a very explosive lineup, so we need to keep making pitches and taking advantage of their mistakes."
The Petrels will be back at Twenty Field on Sunday for the aforementioned doubleheader against this same Millsaps team. Game 1 will get started at 1 p.m. Eastern with a seven-inning Game 2 slated for 30 minutes after the completion of Game 1.