MT. BERRY, Ga. – The Millsaps baseball team showed incredible resolve in the Berry Pod Finale to earn a victory and advance to the SAA Championship Series. Junior Wil Wood pitched a gem with one day of rest as the Majors responded from a 25-10 defeat against Rhodes and won a winner-take-all matchup, 7-2 at William R. Bowdoin Field on Saturday.
Millsaps (24-19) won their 10th game in their last 12 contests to earn the right to face No. 1 seed Birmingham-Southern, beginning next Saturday with the right to make the NCAA Tournament.
Game Two: W, 7-2
Graduate pitcher Ryan Erwin and Wood both showed tremendous grit and determination in the clinching win. Erwin, who pitched two innings on Friday, yielded just one hit and one run against six hits in 4.0 IP. Wood (10-2) started and won on Thursday before allowing just one run and one hit in 5.0 IP.
Senior Avery Brock was a rock offensively going 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while classmate Chris Hart ended 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs.
The Majors gained an early 2-0 advantage in the first when Brock singled home Hart and Pitre used a sacrifice fly to tally home Case Page.
Brock homered in his third straight game and 10th overall, extending the Millsaps lead to 3-0 in the third. Rhodes loaded the bases in the fourth and got on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Senior Mason Little then worked a walk in the fifth and advanced to third off of a Page hit. A Brock sacrifice fly built a 4-1 cushion. The Lynx broke through for another run in sixth, but that would be their last time forcing the scoreboard operator's hand.
After David Abbadessa reached via a hit by pitch, Hart smoked a ball over the center field wall to make it a 6-2 game. A Brock fielder's choice in the ninth pushed it to a final 7-2 tally.
Wood forced three final fly outs, let out a yell with the final catch and was mobbed by his excited teammates.
Game One: L, 25-10
Millsaps jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Additionally, the first three hitters reached in Chris Hart, Mason Little and Case Page. Page would shoot the ball up the middle to score Chris Hart from second base. A passed ball then advanced the runner's into scoring position. Sam Pitre would plate Little with a fielder's choice and Page would score on an ensuing wild pitch.
The Lynx answered to tie the game in their half of the first courtesy of three straight opening walks, which all resulted in runs.
Millsaps threatened by putting two runners in scoring position in the second with two outs, but Rhodes left the inning unscathed. Freshman Nick Tarantino found a nice groove in the next Lynx at-bats, forcing two fly outs and throwing a nasty breaking ball to strike out the third hitter.
The Majors regained the lead in the third with a two-run blast off the bat of Avery Brock that sailed over the left field fence. Millsaps would push it to a 6-3 game by loading the bases and with Austin Arceneaux tallying a deep sacrifice fly.
Rhodes converted a lead-off triple into a run in the third, making it 6-4. The Lynx then added a pair of runs in the fourth to tie it at 6-6.
Back-to-back singles by Mark Petkovsek and Bradley Pelle gave the Majors momentum back in the fifth. Arceneaux loaded the bases with a hit by pitch and then David Abbadessa was able to produce a sacrifice fly to give the Majors the lead yet again at 7-6.
However, Rhodes was quick to answer with five runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to build a 16-7 edge. Hart doubled in the Major seventh inning to get two runs back. The Lynx added four runs to make it 20-9 after seven innings. Petkovsek would record an RBI single in eighth before Rhodes tacked on five final tallies.
Millsaps will now travel to face No. 1 seed Birmingham-Southern in the SAA Championship Series, beginning next Saturday with times to be announced. Live video and live stats will be available at gomajors.com.
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