The Oglethorpe baseball team swept a doubleheader from the visiting Sewanee Tigers Saturday afternoon in Tennessee, allowing them to take two of three from the Tigers for the series. The Stormy Petrels fell behind 6-2 in the third inning of Game 1, but outscored Sewanee 10-1 over the remainder of the contest and 24-2 over the remainder of the afternoon for a pair of huge SAA victories. The wins improved the Petrels to 11-11 overall and 3-6 in conference play.
In Game 1, Oglethorpe jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Sophomore first baseman Andrew Mink singled to lead off the frame and junior second baseman Matt Motz doubled to put runners at second and third. An RBI groundout from junior third baseman Connor Crooke put the Petrels ahead 1-0 and sophomore shortstop Sam Held followed with a run-scoring groundout of his own, giving the Petrels a 2-0 edge. The Tigers, though, answered with six runs in the third inning, getting a pair of 3-run homers in the frame, and led 6-2 going into the fourth inning.
The Petrels began to fight back in the fifth inning, though. Junior center fielder Jarvis Miller was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, then was advanced to second with a single from senior right fielder Brandon Fish. The two advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, then junior catcher Adrian Celata doubled to score both. Celata was picked off after that, but Mink mitigated the damage from that somewhat by launching a home run to draw the Petrels to within a run, 6-5.
The Petrels continued their comeback in the sixth. They loaded the bases with a pair of hit batsmen and a walk, then Fish came to the plate and doubled into the left-center gap, driving in a pair of runs and giving Oglethorpe a 7-6 lead. They extended that advantage in the seventh on back-to-back home runs from Motz and Crooke, giving themselves a 9-6 edge. A 2-run Mink home run in the eighth extended the Oglethorpe lead to 11-6 and a Celata sacrifice fly in the ninth pushed the Oglethorpe lead to 12-6. The Tigers got a single run back in the ninth, but the Petrels cruised to the 12-7 victory, in the end.
Junior right-hander Matt Davis earned his fourth victory of the season, allowing 6 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Senior right-hander Sam Traxler earned his second save of the season by throwing the final three innings, allowing a single run on 3 hits.
In Game 2, the Petrels jumped all over the Tigers early. They scored three runs in the first and six in the fourth. They got a pair of home runs to start the game, with junior catcher Bobby Rezac and Celata both going deep. In the fourth, Oglethorpe scored four runs on Sewanee errors, then saw Fish launch a 2-run bomb to give the team a 9-0 lead. Sewanee brought a run back in the fourth, but the Petrels continued to pour it on. They added a single run on another Fish home run in the sixth, then put up four more tallies in the seventh, three on a double by Rezac and a home run by Celata.
For the game, the Petrels launched five home runs, Celata and Fish both smacking a pair. Rezac drove in 4 runs and Held went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored.
On the mound, sophomore right-hander Caleb Feibus picked up his second victory of the season, allowing just a run and hit over 4 innings of the 7-inning ball game, striking out 3 in the process.
"I was proud of our resilience today," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "We bounced back from a tough loss yesterday, then fell behind early in Game 1 today. Obviously, we swung the bats extremely well this weekend, and we made pitches when we had to. We've got a lot of baseball in front of us, so we'll keep working to improve."
The Petrels return home next week, as they'll host Huntingdon Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Anderson Field, then will host Piedmont Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the same venue. The Petrels will then host Centre in a 3-game SAA series Saturday and Sunday.