CONWAY, Ark.—The No. 7 Birmingham-Southern baseball team won its second straight regular season Southern Athletic Association title Sunday, defeating Hendrix 11-2 in Conway, Ark.
The Panthers finish the regular season with a 30-7-1 overall record and a 16-4-1 mark in the SAA, while the Warriors fall to 17-20 overall and 7-14 in league play.
BSC will host part of the opening round of the SAA Championship next weekend as the top overall seed, taking on eighth-seeded Centre. Fourth-seeded Oglethorpe and fifth-seeded Berry will also play on Striplin Field as part of the four-team double-elimination format. Game times will be announced soon here at bscsports.net as well as on Twitter (@bscsports) and Facebook (facebook.com/bscsports).
Second-seeded Millsaps will also host the other first-round "pod", facing seventh-seeded Sewanee, and third-seeded Rhodes and sixth-seeded Hendrix will also square off in Jackson, Miss., next weekend. The winners of the two pods will then advance to the three-game title series, hosted by the higher seed.
The Panther offense wasted no time getting started in today's game, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning, the last two coming as a result of a Hendrix error. An RBI single from seniorDavid Bourbonnais in the third extended the lead to 6-0, and four more in the sixth put BSC up 10-0. The Warriors got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, followed by another Panther run in the top of the seventh courtesy of an RBI single from senior Jacob Mayfield, the third of his game-high three RBIs. Hendrix tacked on one more in the bottom of the seventh for the final score of the game.
Mayfield was 2-3 with three RBIs, sophomores Zach Wingate and Sam Robertsw were both 2-4, and junior Taylor McCracken was 2-5. Wingate and Bourbonnais both also had two RBIs each.
Sophomore Stephen Himic (4-0) started and pitched five innings, giving up three hits and one walk. Sophomore Mac Crawford, senior Paul Caudill, freshman Ross James, and senior Ben Hession combined to finish out the game, throwing one inning apiece.
The BSC defense was also efficient today, turning three double plays, which ties the single-game program record.