Down 8-7 going into the bottom of the ninth Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field, the Oglethorpe baseball team used a walkoff 2-run home run by sophomore catcher Adrian Celata to turn the tables on the visiting Sewanee Tigers and win 9-8. The victory earned the Stormy Petrels a 3-game sweep of Sewanee and improved them to 18-16 on the season overall and an even 9-9 in SAA play, ensuring they'll remain in a tie for fifth in the league standings headed into the season's final weekend.
The game-winning home run served as Celata's third of the game and capped an outstanding day and weekend for the Petrel catcher. He went 3 for 5 with three home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored, and finished the series 6 for 13 with four home runs, a double, a walk, 10 RBIs, and five runs scored.
His heroics came after the Tigers had scored twice in the top half of the inning to turn a 7-6 deficit into an 8-7 lead. Senior shortstop Spencer Transue walked to lead off the ninth and he was sacrificed to second base by sophomore center fielder Britton Araujo. A Petrel groundout brought Celata to the plate with two men out in the inning.
Oglethorpe came back from a single-run deficit in the eighth inning, as well. Celata immediately erased the deficit when he led off the frame by crushing a pitch to left-center, tying the game. His home-run ball landed about a third of the way up the Dorough Field House roof in left-center. The inning continued with a 1-out double to the left-center gap by freshman first baseman Andrew Mink and a single by junior third baseman Austin Ferlita, advancing Mink to third. Sophomore designated hitter Corey Hamm followed and executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Mink and give the Petrels a 7-6 lead.
After falling behind 3-0 early, the Petrels responded with five straight runs off of a pair of homers from Celata and Ferlita. Celata hit a 3-run bomb deep into the parking lot in left-center to tie the score 3-3 in the third, then Ferlita hit a 2-run shot to the deepest part of the ballpark in straightaway center to give his team a 5-3 edge in the fourth.
The Tigers came back with a pair of runs in the fifth, though, tying the score 5-5.
In addition to Celata's big day, Ferlita went 2 for 4 with a home run, two RBIs and a run scored, while Mink went 3 for 4 with a double and a pair of runs scored.
Senior right-hander Justin Thigpen picked up the win in relief for the Petrels, improving to 5-1 on the season. He blew the save in the ninth inning, but limited the damage to an extent where the Petrels were able to come back in the bottom half of the frame. He went an inning and allowed two runs on two hits, accruing a walk and a strikeout. Senior right-hander Sam Franklin pitched very well in long relief for the squad, allowing just two earned runs on seven hits through seven innings, striking out six Sewanee hitters in the process.
"It was an exciting finish to an outstanding senior weekend," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "I'm happy we were able to send the seniors off on a sweep. I can't say enough about Celata and the season he's having. He picked us up and put on his back today."
The Petrels will play a pair of non-conference road games this week, traveling to Demorest, Georgia, to take on Piedmont at 7 p.m. Tuesday before heading across town to go against No. 7 Emory at 3 p.m. Wednesday. After that, they'll travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to take on Rhodes Saturday and Sunday in the final SAA series of the season. The winner of the series will be guaranteed no worse than fifth place in the conference headed into the SAA Tournament.