The Millsaps Majors got a little more than they bargained on Thursday (4/22/04) as they kicked off the 2004 SCAC baseball tournament in Atlanta. Host Oglethorpe pushed Millsaps to the limit before falling, 6-5, in twelve innings. It was the longest game in tournament history.
The winning blow came in the bottom of the twelfth on a soft liner to left off the bat of freshmen left-fielder Jason Hadley which scored Garner Wetzel from third. Wetzel led off the inning with a double to right-center and advanced to third on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Matt Renna.
Oglethorpe (9-32, 6-11) came out fired up as they scored one in the first and one in the second off starter Todd Kindler. The Majors answered against Stormy Petrel starter Jimmy Hess with one in the first on a first-pitch rocket over the left-field wall by freshman second-sacker Nick Crawford. It was Crawford's second round-tripper of the year.
The Majors (33-7, 18-3) tied it at two in the fourth on a Hadley RBI single. Oglethorpe posted two unearned runs in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Millsaps went ahead for the first time in the sixth as they pushed across three runs on a hit batsman, another Hadley single, a Scott Staines' sac fly, a Stu Phillips' single, and a wild pitch.
It stayed that way until the eighth as both starters settled into a groove on a hot, humid day. Oglethorpe tied it on a Brad Sims double to right-center but the Majors escaped further damage on a nifty 6-4-3 (Wetzel to Crawford to Ben Wilson) double play.
Both teams had scoring opportunities in the late innings but were thwarted by good defensive efforts. Oglethorpe turned a 6-4-3 double play to end a Millsaps threat in the ninth. Petrel reliever Ken Magness escaped a bases-loaded jam in the tenth by getting Ryan Skertich on a hard liner to left.
With two out in the eleventh and a man on second, Majors' shortstop Wetzel saved a run by keeping a hard hit ground ball from going into center-field. The Majors also got out of a huge jam in the twelfth after Tim Ernst hit a one-out crazy-hop triple that eluded center-fielder Stu Phillips. With the infield in, Anthony Sabala hit a ground ball to second that ricocheted off Crawford's chest directly to Wetzel who threw to first for the out. Ernst stayed put on the play. The inning ended on a routine grounder to short.
Millsaps' closer Tal Hendrix pitched the last one and 1/3 inning to improve to 8-0 on the year. Magness (0-1) went two innings and took the loss.
Hadley, Wetzel, and Staines each had three hits to lead the Majors offensively. Ernst (3 for 6), Brent Jones (2 for 3) and Jake Russ (2 for 5) led the Stormy Petrels.
Millsaps advances to the winner's bracket and will play the loser of the Rose-Hulman-Southwestern game at 3:00pm (EDT) on Friday. Oglethorpe faces the Depauw-Trinity loser at 11:00am on Friday.
