The Oglethorpe baseball team got its first win of the young season Sunday when they split a doubleheader with the Birmingham-Southern Panthers at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Alabama. They took the first game 7-6 in 10 innings before falling 12-5 in Game 2. That combination of results moved the Stormy Petrels to 1-3 on the season.
The Petrels fell behind early in Game 1, but they hung in there and worked their way back into the game as it wore on, winning it in the late innings. The Panthers scored the first three runs of the game in the first inning, but the Petrels responded when senior shortstop Alex Featherstone singled home both sophomore second baseman Jonathan Cruz and junior third baseman Andrew Noack to make the score 3-2 in the second inning.
Birmingham-Southern answered back with a pair of runs in the fourth inning to retake their 3-run lead, but the Petrels responded over the late innings. Cruz, Featherstone and junior left fielder Will Arnold all walked to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the seventh. Senior center fielder Chris Keane followed with an infiield single to move everybody up 90 feet and make the score 5-3. Senior catcher Alec Babb drove Featherstone in with a sacrifice fly to pull Oglethorpe to within a run, then sophomore first baseman George Krivsky drove in the tying run with an RBI groundout.
The Panthers took the lead back with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, making the score 6-5 headed into the ninth inning. Cruz led off with an infield single and Featherstone sacrificed him into scoring position. With two outs, Keane came through with a huge run-scoring to left, tying the score at 6-6. Keane took over as pitcher in the bottom half of the inning and stranded a Panther in scoring position, setting the stage for the 10th inning.
Sophomore center fielder Wyatt Lee, who started the game in right field before moving over to replace Keane, started the extra frame with a double. Sophomore right fielder Carson Weir sacrificed him to third, which proved to be a good move as Noack lifted a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Petrels a 7-6 edge.
Keane went back to mound to try to close it out and sent the Panthers packing in short order, securing the victory. He allowed two walks and a hit over his two innings of work, but held the Panthers scoreless. He also served as one of the offensive heroes, going 3-for-5 with a couple RBIs. Babb posted a 2-for-4 line with the sacrifice fly. Junior lefty Tyler Schlegel got the start and allowed 5 runs on eight hits over six innings.
Birmingham-Southern jumped out to a big lead early in Game 2, scoring a run in the first, 3 in the second and 2 more in the third for a 6-0 lead. The Petrels fought back, though. They used a two-out rally in the fourth, started by a Krivsky walk and a Noack single. Sophomore Connor Ledet singled to load the bases, then Cruz followed with a 2-run single and Featherstone an RBI single. That made the score 6-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Petrels scored a run on a double play to inch closer, then got another run-scoring single from Featherstone to make it 6-5. However, they got no closer and the Panthers scored 3 runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to secure the win.
The Petrels will be back in action are schedule to be back in action Tuesday evening, when they travel back up to Demorest to take on the Piedmont Lions at 6 p.m.