The Oglethorpe baseball team entered Saturday needing to win twice in order to stay alive in the elimination bracket of the SAA Tournament in Conway, Arkansas. They came back from a 4-0 deficit against Centre in Game 1, winning 5-4 on a record-breaking walkoff home run by sophomore catcher Adrian Celata. However, Hendrix scored eight runs in the fifth inning of the night cap, pushing out to an insurmountable lead and winning 11-6, eliminating the Petrels from the tournament. The results mean that the Stormy Petrels end their season 20-23.
In Game 1, the sixth-seeded Petrels fell behind the seventh-seeded Colonels 4-0 in the first inning, but held their opponents at that point for the remainder of the contest. They scored three runs in the third to cut the deficit to one, but the score remained 4-3 headed into the ninth inning. Senior right-hander Sam Franklin set Centre down in order in the top half, but the Petrels had just three outs to play with.
Sophomore left fielder Jarvis Miller led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, setting the stage for Celata. The SAA Player of the Year smacked a 2-run, walkoff homer to left, giving the Petrels a 5-4 win, staving off elimination, and sending the Oglethorpe dugout into a frenzy. It was his 13th home run of the season, breaking the Oglethorpe single-season record, previously set by Brendan Pilger in 2011. It was also his second walkoff homer of the season after his third home run of the game beat Sewanee on April 10.
Franklin got the victory after throwing three innings of hitless, shutout baseball, striking out two and walking no one. He improved to 2-3 on the season. He picked up where senior right-hander Joe Marco left off. Marco got the start and was very good after the first inning, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out nine Centre batters over the course of the game.
After Centre pushed out to a 4-0 lead in the first, the Petrels responded in the third. Senior shortstop Spencer Transue started the inning off with a triple to right-center. Sophomore center fielder Britton Araujo followed with an RBI single up the middle, making it 4-1. Two batters later, Celata singled, and he and Araujo moved up 90 feet each on a wild pitch. Junior designated hitter Brandon Fish grounded out to short as the next batter, but Araujo was able to score on the play, making it 4-2. Junior third baseman Austin Ferlita followed with an RBI single, driving in Celata and making the score 4-3, where it would stay until the ninth inning.
Celata finished the game 2 for 5 with the home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Miller went 2 for 5, as well, scoring a run of his own, while Ferlita went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
"Celata's home run was obviously the play that won this game for us," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano, "but Joe Marco was absolutely fantastic after the first inning, and his effort gave us a chance to come back. Sam Franklin was also instrumental for us in relief in the first game."
After the exciting walkoff win, the Petrels came back 45 minutes later for another elimination game against the hosts, the second-seeded Hendrix Warriors, who had lost to Rhodes in the winner's bracket game earlier in the day. The game was low scoring early, as the two teams traded runs through the first four innings.
Hendrix got on the board in the third to take a 1-0 lead, but Celata launched his second homer of the day and his record-extending 14th of the season in the fourth, tying the game 1-1. However, Hendrix exploded for eight runs in the fifth inning, pushing out to a 9-1 advantage that the Petrels never were able to recover from.
A Ferlita sacrifice fly in the sixth brought Oglethorpe a run closer, but Hendrix answered back in the bottom half of the inning with a run of their own. A 2-run single from Celata in the seventh pushed the Petrels to within six runs, 10-4, but Hendrix answered again with a run in the eighth.
The Petrels mounted a rally in the ninth, as Transue drove in a run with a 2-out single and Celata again came through with another RBI single, making it 11-6. The Warriors were able to close things down from there, though.
Senior left-hander Kyle Mitchell suffered the loss, throwing 4 1/3 innings while allowing six hits and five earned runs. He walked four and struck out two.
Celata's final hit served as his 67th of the season, breaking another Oglethorpe single-season record. The previous mark of 66 was set by Steve Loureiro in 1998. For the day in all, he went 5 for 10 with two home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored, to go with two new Oglethorpe single-season records.
"I'm proud of the effort our guys showed and of the way we played this weekend," said Giordano. "The guys brought energy to the field each and every inning. Celata was a monster today, as he has been all year. We return the majority of our lineup and the future is bright for our program."