The Oglethorpe baseball team scored four runs in the ninth inning Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field, but the visiting Berry Vikings had scored five in the top half of the inning and held on for a 10-9 victory to take two of three in the series. The loss drops the Stormy Petrels to 15-15 on the season overall and 6-9 in SAA play.
With the game tied 5-5 headed to the ninth inning and senior right-hander Sam Franklin entering his sixth inning of work, he allowed a leadoff single and was relieved by junior right-hander Justin Thigpen. Berry designated hitter Ben Jernigan followed with an RBI double to take the lead, which started a 5-run frame for the Vikings that gave them a 10-5 lead headed to the bottom half of the inning.
Things looked bleak for the Petrels, but they started with a walk from senior shortstop Spencer Transue. Sophomore center fielder Britton Araujo then singled through the right side of the infield and sophomore left fielder Jarvis Miller singled through the left side, loading the bases with nobody out. Sophomore catcher Adrian Celata doubled to left-center one batter later, scoring a pair of runs, and after the Vikings changed pitchers, junior right fielder Brandon Fish followed with an RBI single to left, making it 10-8. Sophomore first baseman Dee Kelly walked to reload the bases, putting the potential winning runs aboard. Freshman pinch hitter Scott Witt then knocked a bloop single to center, scoring a run, but pinch runner Morgan Blake had to hold up at third, leaving the potential tying run there with one out. However, Berry got back-to-back outs over the next two hitters to secure the 10-9 victory.
The Petrels had tied the game with a pair of runs in the sixth despite not getting the ball out of the infield. Junior third baseman Austin Ferlita reached on an error, sophomore designated hitter Corey Hamm hit an infield single and sophomore catcher Bobby Rezac was hit by a pitch. Transue drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk and the Petrels then tied the game on a wild pitch.
The Petrels scored three runs over the game's first two innings, taking a 3-1 lead. They tied the game 1-1 in the first when Ferlita was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then scored two more on a 2-run double down the left field line by Miller.
Berry took a lead of their own with three runs in the fourth, though, then added on to that with a single run in the fifth, building a 5-3 lead.
Franklin suffered the tough-luck loss, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings, walking a batter and striking out two. However, it was his baserunner that scored the go-ahead run in the ninth.
Miller led the Petrels on the day, going 3 for 5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Celata went 2 for 5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored.
"This was another difficult loss for us," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "It's frustrating because we still haven't put a complete game together this season, but I know it's there. We saw brief glimpses of it in the Centre series and the Huntingdon comeback last week. I'm still confident we'll be able to put everything together at some point this year. Our goal will be to work towards that point for the conference tournament."
The Petrels will travel to Lookout Mountain, Georgia, Tuesday to take on Covenant at 4 p.m. in a midweek non-conference game. After that, they'll return home to host Sewanee in their final home conference series of the season Saturday and Sunday.