The Oglethorpe baseball team got their stay at the SAA Tournament in Memphis, Tennessee, off to a rocky start Friday afternoon, falling behind to the No. 2 seed Rhodes Lynx 8-0 after five innings and eventually dropping the contest 10-4. The defeat dropped the Stormy Petrels to 18-21 on the season and forced them to play an elimination game Saturday against the loser of Friday's second game between No. 3 seed Hendrix and No. 6 seed Millsaps.
The Petrels fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, then the homestanding Lynx added a couple more tallies in the third. Meanwhile, Oglethorpe couldn't get much going offensively, as they recorded just 8 total hits over the nine innings of play. Rhodes added on more in the fifth inning, when they scored four runs to extend their advantage to 8-0.
The Petrels came back with four runs over the final four innings. They picked up a run in the seventh when senior third baseman Austin Ferlita homered with one out, then added another in the eighth after sophomore first baseman Andrew Mink walked, was forced to second on a hit batsman, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on an RBI groundout by freshman shortstop Sam Held.
They added another pair of runs in the ninth inning. Junior center fielder Jarvis Miller walked, Ferlita singled, and both advanced on a wild pitch. Junior catcher Adrian Celata followed with his seventh sacrifice fly of the season, and senior right fielder Brandon Fish singled home Ferlita to make it 10-4. It was too little, too late for the Petrels, however.
Junior right-hander Matt Davis got the start and suffered the loss, dropping to 5-5 on the season. He allowed 6 earned runs on 15 hits over 5 innings, striking out eight Lynx in the process.
Ferlita finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 2 runs scored, while Miller went 2-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
"We just didn't make enough plays on defense today to give us a chance," said Oglethorpe head coach Dan Giordano. "We had some chances early to score runs and didn't capitalize. We'll come out ready to play tomorrow."
The Petrels will take on the loser of Friday's other opening round game at the Memphis pod between Hendrix and Millsaps. That game will take place at 3:30 p.m. Eastern and the winner will advance to take on the loser from the winner's bracket game at 8 p.m. from Millington.