The Oglethorpe baseball team was locked in a scoreless tie with third-seeded Rhodes for much of the contest Friday afternoon in the opening game of the SAA Tournament for both teams in Conway, Arkansas. It was the Lynx who built a late lead, however, pushing out to a 5-0 victory and bringing the sixth-seeded Stormy Petrels to within a game of elimination in the tournament. The loss was Oglethorpe's fourth in four tries against Rhodes this season and dropped them to 19-22 on the year.
The Petrels collected six hits in the game, three of them doubles, but couldn't plate a run against a solid outing from Rhodes starter Daniel Morris, who picked up his second victory in a week against Oglethorpe. The Petrels were unable to collect more than one hit in any single inning.
The loss came despite a very good start from sophomore right-hander Matt Davis. He went seven innings and allowed three runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out four. He suffered the loss, though, falling to 5-4 on the season.
The game remained scoreless through the first four innings, but Rhodes plated two in the fifth, then added an additional run with a 2-out double in the sixth, building a 3-0 lead. The scoreline stayed that way until the eighth, when the Lynx added two additional runs off junior right-hander Sam Traxler to essentially put the game out of reach.
Sophomore center fielder Britton Araujo, sophomore left fielder Jarvis Miller, junior third baseman Austin Ferlita, freshman first baseman Andrew Mink, sophomore right fielder Corey Hamm and senior shortstop Spencer Transue each collected a hit for the Petrels, with Miller, Hamm and Transue recording doubles.
"This game did not go our way, which puts us in the more difficult side of the bracket," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "We're still alive, though, and we'll get another chance tomorrow. We'll be ready to win a couple games and advance to Sunday."
The Petrels will take on the loser of Friday evening's contest between No. 2 seed Hendrix and No. 7 seed Centre. That game will take place at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday from Conway, with the winner of that taking on the loser of Saturday's first game, which will feature Rhodes and the winner of Friday's second game.