Blazers Knot Maloney Trophy Series in 11-4 Win

JACKSON -- Ricky Owens blasted his fifth homerun of the year over the scoreboard in leftfield and teammate Buddy Wyrick parked his seventh homerun of the year to pace the Belhaven Blazers offense in an 11-4 victory at Smith-Wills Stadium on Tuesday evening.

With the win, the Blazers kept the Majors from hoisting the trophy last night and evened the Maloney Trophy Series at 3-1. The Choctaws of Mississippi College have already been eliminated from the race with a pair of losses to both teams.

Ranked No. 25 in the latest NAIA Poll, Belhaven (25-10, 13-5 GCAC) jumped on top with two quick runs in the first frame and went on to plate five more in the fifth, one in the sixth and three more in the seventh for its seventh-straight win to improve to 10-5 at home.

Millsaps (19-7, 5-3 SCAC) rotated a handful of pitchers in the defeat after starter Travis Bogue pitched the first two innings and allowed two runs off two hits. John David Childs, Max Berry, Drew Maddox and Tait Hendrix pitched the final six innings with Childs picking up the loss in 2.1 innings of work.

Robert Young (5-0, 3.56 ERA) earned the win on the mound for Belhaven, scattering five hits, four strikeouts and two earned runs in six innings of work.

The top of the Blazers lineup (1 through 5) did a majority of the work offensively, batting a combined 9-for-19 with eight RBIs and eight runs scored, including a 2-for-2 night from Blaise King and a 2-for-3 night from Thomas Royals.

Junior infielder Hunter Abrams recorded his fifth multi-hit game in six tries for the Majors, going 2-for-4 on the evening with an RBI-double to leftfield in the eighth inning.

Millsaps will play a make-up game against Piedmont College Wednesday, March 28, meeting the Lions in Birmingham, Ala., for a 6 p.m. game on the campus of Birmingham-Southern. The game will air live on ESPN Radio 1240 AM with host Derrel Palmer.

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