Box Score
JACKSON – On St. Patrick’s Day, the Millsaps College baseball team used good old-fashioned hard work instead of luck to rally past visiting Illinois Wesleyan University for an 11-10 non-conference victory Wednesday night at Twenty Field.
Will Hawkins drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth as the Majors scored three in the final inning to secure the win.
After the Titans scored one in the top of the first,
Josh Ordeneaux quickly tied the score, 1-1 with a solo home run to left field.
The Majors took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second when
Tyler Berry blasted the first pitch of the inning over the left field fence followed by a
Wes Perkins single.
Perkins proceeded to steal second before
Drew Leonard knocked him home with an RBI double down the left field line.
IWU would respond with a big fourth inning scoring six runs to regain a 7-3 lead taking advantage of free passes issued by the Majors’ pitchers.
Millsaps got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning when
Will Elmore doubled before
Jeremy Aliff hit a two-run home run, his first of the season, to cut the deficit to 7-5.
The Titans added two runs to their lead in the seventh highlighted by a solo home run by E.J. Schiller for a 9-5 advantage.
After using the long ball for a majority of its runs early in the game, Millsaps did the little things necessary to start a late rally and scored three runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to 9-8.
Starting the eighth inning,
Trey Rountree walked, a pitch hit Leonard and Aliff followed with a triple to left center to bring home both runners.
Ordeneaux brought Aliff home with a sacrifice fly as the Majors found themselves behind 9-8 heading into the ninth.
IWU’ tacked on another run in the top of the ninth to take a 10-8 lead into the final half inning.
Perkins and Rountree both singled to start the inning while Leonard followed with a sacrifice bunt that the pitcher threw away from the first baseman allowing Perkins to score.
With runners on second and third and no outs, Rountree scored the tying run on a wild pitch and Aliff followed with a walk to put runners at the corners.
Ordeneaux was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Hawkins, who promptly singled over the head of the left fielder to score Leonard for the game-winning run, 11-10.
Aliff finished the game 3-for-4 from the plate with four RBIs and all 10 batters that made a plate appearance for Millsaps recorded at least one hit.
Perkins recorded his first collegiate victory in relief while the Titans’ Alex Tosi took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.
The Majors, now 14-5, will hit the road for an important conference match-up with Hendrix College starting with a doubleheader on Saturday.