Terre Haute, Ind. -- The collective sigh of relief from a large Millsaps' contingent rivaled the boisterous cheers of the baseball team as the Majors captured a conference title on Sunday, the final day of the 2003 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Spring Sports Festival on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Carrying a perfect tournament record going into Sunday's action, Millsaps needed to win just one game to secure a league championship and an automatic bid to a Division III NCAA regional tournament. But the Majors suffered defeat in the day's first contest and needed a nightcap victory to garner league supremacy.
With wins against Sewanee, DePauw, and Southwestern under its belt, Millsaps hooked up with SCAC West rival Southwestern for the seventh and eighth time of the year on Sunday, falling to the Pirates 11-4 in game one before winning game two in dramatic fashion by an 11-8 margin in ten innings.
The Majors relied on four runs in the fourth inning and two in the sixth to take an 8-5 lead entering the bottom of the ninth frame in game two.
But a single by Patrick Mascorro and a hit-by-pitch to Chad Wiley started the Pirates ninth-inning rally. Pinch-hitter Jeff Bodenman then launched a double -- his first extra-base hit of the year -- to score Mascorro and Wiley. After an intentional walk to Jeff Gabbert and a sacrifice bunt, Matt Davis grounded out to first base to score Bodenman and tie the game at 8-8.
Following a walk to Andy Winkler, Southwestern had the bases loaded with one out and a chance to claim the championship before Millsaps' freshman Tal Hendrix forced a fielder's choice ground out to home plate and a fly out to right field to draw extra innings.
In the 10th inning, Millsaps relied on a single by designated hitter Bo Roberts to spark a rally. Matt Yglesias then tripled to left field to score Roberts before an RBI single by Ben Wilson scored a second run. A sacrifice fly by Ryan Skertich gave the Majors an 11-8 advantage.
Southwestern brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 10th on a fielding error and a walk, but Hendrix struck out one batter and forced a pair of ground outs to secure the first SCAC baseball title for Millsaps since 1994.
K.K. Aldridge had four hits and scored three times, while Roberts added three hits and Yglesias finished 2 for 2 with two runs and two RBIs to lead the Millsaps offense. Hendrix pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first collegiate win.
For Southwestern, Matt Odom had three hits, scored once and added one RBI, while Mascorro had two hits.
Southwestern topped Millsaps 11-4 earlier in the afternoon on Sunday to force a winner-take-all championship game. Pirate senior Forrest Martin tossed a complete-game nine-hitter with 14 strikeouts to earn his fourth victory of the season. Martin walked just four and allowed three earned runs in the contest. Ben Graham blasted a grand slam to lead the Bucs' offense.
Millsaps improved to 27-15 overall, while Southwestern finished the season at 27-18.
