The Oglethorpe baseball team earned a doubleheader split against the home-standing Sewanee Tigers on Saturday, completing a solid weekend in which they took two out of three from the series. The Stormy Petrels blitzed the Tigers in Game 2, winning 13-1 in a seven-inning game after getting blanked and one-hit 1-0 in Game 1.
In the second game, the Petrels jumped on Sewanee for three in the first inning. This gave the Oglethorpe pitching all they would need, and the visitors would later extend the lead even farther from there en route to the 13-1 win.
Sophomore right-hander Justin Thigpen picked up yet another win in relief for the Petrels, improving himself to 5-1 on the season. He allowed no runs on just one hit through 2-1/3 innings, striking out two and walking no one. He came in in relief of starter Dan McBryan, who allowed one run on three hits over 3-2/3 innings while striking out three, but walked six.
Offensively, the Petrels were led in Game 2 by junior second baseman Keith Dearden, who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Senior center fielder Andre Turnquest had a 1-for-2 game, but walked three times and scored three runs while stealing a base. Senior center fielder Vernon Trice was 1-for-4, but scored two runs and stole three bases.
The Petrels jumped on top right away in the first inning of the contest. Turnquest reached first on an error to lead off the game, then advanced to second on another error. Junior shortstop Spencer Transue walked and senior designated hitter Patrick Kulick followed by grounding into a fielder's choice. Sophomore third baseman followed with one of his two doubles on the day, scoring one run, and Dearden singled home two on the next batter, giving the Petrels a 3-0 lead. The Petrels got out of a couple of jams over the next two innings and added another run in the third, as Dearden singled, senior right fielder Joey McAlpin was hit by a pitch, and freshman catcher Adrian Celata singled to drive home Dearden and give the Petrels a 4-0 lead.
Oglethorpe pitching continued to work its way out of jams, as Sewanee stranded 12 baserunners in all over the course of the seven-inning game. The Petrels put the game away in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring six runs combined over the two. They put up two in the third, as Trice led off the inning with a single and stole both second and third before scoring on a Sewanee error. Turnquest followed with a walk and a steal of second. A Transue groundout advanced him to third before Kulick singled him home to make it 6-0.
Sewanee got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but the Petrels rallied for four more in the fifth. Celata doubled to lead off and freshman first baseman Dee Kelly walked, putting runners at first and second. Junior Alex Atteberry pinch-ran for Kelly and Trice hit into a fielder's choice next, but went on to steal second base. Turnquest followed with a walk and Transue followed him with a two-run single. The Petrels picked up another run on a Tiger wild pitch, then Kulick reached on an error and Dearden singled home Transue, making the score 10-1. The Petrels added three insurance runs in the seventh, too. Junior pinch-hitter Casey Innis reached first on an error and freshman pinch-hitter Connor Crooke reached on a fielder's choice. Junior pinch-hitter Frankie Vascimini singled, as did freshman right fielder Britton Araujo. Junior catcher James Owen followed with an RBI groundout, and sophomore first baseman Tyler Blamble came through with a two-run single, marking the first two RBIs of his career.
Game 1 was a lightning-quick picher's duel, as the two teams combined for five hits in a nine-inning game that laster under 90 minutes. The Petrels were only able to collect a single hit over the course of the game, though, as Tigers starter Ryan Tillman allowed only that through 8-1/3 innings. Junior left-hander Kyle Mitchell pitched extremely well for the Petrels, too, but suffered the loss, falling to 3-2 on the season. He allowed just one run on four hits over 6-1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked just one.
Oglethorpe's lone hit of the game came off the bat of Dearden in the eighth inning. Transue also worked a walk and the Petrels were hit by pitches twice. Sewanee scored the winning run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch where there was confusion about whether or not the home-plate umpire had called time as right-hander reliever Joseph Marco began to deliver the ball. Marco thought he had and therefore skied the pitch into the screen behind home plate. Unfortunately, time had not been called and the winning run scored.
"We were able to rally after a tough loss," said Head Coach Dan Giordano. "Our goal is to always win the series and we were able to accomplish that. Our pitching was great all weekend. We held them to three runs in three games. Offensively, we swung the bats well in two of the three games. We have to tip our cap to their pitcher Game 1 today. He kept us off-balance all game. But we were able to take the series, and we'll certainly take that result."
With the split, the Petrels are now 17-10 on the season, 7-7 in SAA play. The team remains in fifth place in the SAA, just a game back of Berry for fourth. They'll now play three midweek games at Anderson Field this week, starting with a Tuesday game against LaGrange at 7 p.m.