SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Millsaps looked to make a statement in a pivotal SCAC weekend series against West-leading Trinity, plating three runs in its opening at-bat for an early lead, before the Tigers responded as they did all day with runs in the bottom half to eventually come away with a 13-8 victory at E.M. Stevens Field Friday night.
With the win, Trinity (25-10, 11-2 SCAC) secured the regular-season championship and wrapped up the top spot in the upcoming SCAC Divisional Playoff April 18-20 at Millington USA Stadium in Memphis, Tenn., while the Majors (22-13, 6-7) can finish anywhere from second to fourth with three games left in the series.
Millsaps looked good early with three runs in its half of the first, using back-to-back doubles from Russ Boyd and Hunter Abrams to take a 1-0 lead, followed by a two-RBI double from Josh Ordeneaux with two outs for the 3-0 cushion.
TU bounced right back to retake the lead in front of the home crowd, starting with a leadoff single from Kevin Jackson and ending with a two-RBI single from Steven Ramos that led to a 4-3 Tiger lead after one.
After three scoreless innings from the Majors through the fourth, Millsaps finally drew even with TU in the fifth, scoring a pair of runs after an Abrams single and a two-run error to tie it at 5-5 momentarily.
A five-run fifth for the Tigers pushed their lead back out to 10-5 and put the game out of reach, rallying for five hits in the inning after a leadoff double from Kyle Felix and using RBIs from Kevin Calbick and Evan Jones.
Millsaps proceeded to score single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth to give them a chance late before TU responded in its half of the seventh and eighth with a pair of sacrifice situations to trump the Majors' rally.
Britton Horn (2-0) earned the win for the Tigers after tossing 2.0 innings of two-hit ball from the fifth into the seventh, while Brandon Ingram (2-2) dropped his second decision after surrendering six runs off six hits in relief of starter Tait Hendrix in the fourth.
The teams will continue a weekend series tomorrow with a doubleheader set for 1 p.m.
