MILLINGTON, Tenn. – The Millsaps baseball team closed out the 2011 season this afternoon with a 12-5 loss to the Hendrix College Warriors.
The Warriors got a leadoff walk from Aaron Williams to start the game and Clark Sims got into scoring position with a stolen base on an outside offering from the Millsaps senior. Williams got the next two batters but a deep fly to right advanced Sims to third. Jacob Perschke brought him in with a chopper up the middle and just beat out the throw from Drew Leonard to put Hendrix up 1-0.
Ryan Zemke got a leadoff hit back to Thomas Webber to open the Major half of the first. He advanced on a wild pitch to get into scoring position, but a strikeout from Jules Roussel, an infield popup from Will Hawkins, and a line out to first by Jake Mills left Zemke stranded on second to end the Major first.
Jules Roussel made a nice sliding catch in right to open the second inning. The second batter popped up to Jeremy Aliff in center and Williams got Nathan Harr swinging to get the Majors off the field quickly, one-two-three.
Josh Ordeneaux led off the home-half of the second with a shallow double to right. Hendrix's Collin Radack made a diving play on the ball but could not come up with the catch and Ordeneaux, never slowing down, reached second easily. With a full count on Trey Rountree, play was momentarily halted as the sprinkler system at USA Stadium kicked on for the afternoon cycle. After the water was shut off Rountree popped up to the third baseman on the first pitch offered for the first out. Another delay, caused by pooling water from the sprinkler heads on the basepaths, gummed the works for several more minutes. When play resumed Drew Leonard took the first pitch he saw and popped up to the center fielder. Wes Perkins avoided the third out thanks to an error on the shortstop, but Webber got Jeremy Aliff swinging to end the inning with Ordeneaux stranded on third.
Williams just missed another one-two-three inning with a two-out walk to Clark Sims in the third after getting the first two Hendrix batters to ground out to the middle infielders. Sims successfully stole second. Two more walks to Radack and Raskin sent Coach McCain to the mound to try and settle Williams down and he got out of the jam with another infield grounder to second to end the Warrior threat and prevent the deficit from growing.
Will Hawkins reached after Webber threw one into his shoulder with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Jake Mills kept the inning going with a single through the left side and a wild pitch on the first offering to Ordeneaux advanced both runners. A second ball got away from the Warrior catcher, but he recovered quickly, throwing out Will Hawkins at the plate as he attempted to tie the score for the final out of the inning.
The Warriors went down in order in the top of the fourth after a fly out, ground out and strikeout to bring the Majors back to the plate. With a fresh count, Ordeneaux drew a leadoff walk to start things off. Trey Rountree tied the game with a scorcher past the glove of the first baseman down the right field line that scored Ordeneaux from first and landed him on second. He advanced to third on a hard-hit ball by Wes Perkins, but he became the fifth Major stranded on the day as Jeremy Aliff gave the ball a ride to deep left that was caught for the third out.
Hendrix jumped right back in front in the top of the fifth. Clark Sims shot a blooper over the head of Drew Leonard that scored Aaron Bowen to go up 2-1. Collin Radack drove in two more with a triple over the head of Aliff in center that rolled to the warning track, 4-1. He scored three batters later, off a two-out single from Andrew Thames that chased Williams from the game. Will Elmore came in for the final out, but the damage had been done with the Warriors leading 5-1.
The Majors managed to get two back in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a couple of hit batters and an error at first that allowed Jules Roussel to score. Will Hawkins was driven in a batter later by Wes Perkins on a hard hit ball to second that cut the Warriors lead in half, 5-3.
Nick Richardson drew the leadoff walk from Elmore to start the sixth inning bringing up Clark Sims. With two balls on Sims, the Major coaching staff took no chances, brining in Josh Conlee to relieve Elmore. Sims worked up a full count and sent the payoff pitch sailing into the outfield to put runners at the corners, still with nobody out. A hit batter loaded the bases for Kyle Raskin. The junior drove the ball deep to left field for a stand up double that cleared the bases, putting Hendrix up 8-3.
The Majors went quietly in their half of the sixth one-two-three after an inning ending double play. Conlee remained in the game on the mound for the Majors into the seventh inning, but the Major defense continued to have trouble getting outs as the first two batters reached safely in the frame. The second Major error of the game sent Austin Womack in for the ninth run. Clark Sims successfully stole second to keep multiple runners in scoring position for Collin Radack. Conlee got the freshman swinging for the second out. Kyle Raskin made the third out at second, but not before allowing the Warriors' tenth run to score, giving Hendrix an 11-3 lead heading into the Majors' final three trips to the plate.
Jules Roussel got a walk to get on with one away in the bottom of the seventh and advanced to third thanks to a Jake Mills' single down the right field line. With two away Ordeneaux shot a single into shallow center that brought Roussel in from third to pull the Majors within seven, 11-4.
The Warriors got one back in the top of the eighth, 12-4. Drew Leonard took one in the shoulder from the new Hendrix pitcher, Gabe Levin, to give Millsaps a runner in the bottom of the eighth. Jason Riggins sent a ball into no-man's land between center and right to put runners on the corners with no outs. Jeremy Aliff legged out a fielder's choice to break up the double play and score Leonard, 12-5. With the hit-and-run on, Ryan Zemke hit a line to the second baseman that resulted in the easy force at first to end the inning.
Elliot Varney got out of the top of the ninth without allowing a run to bring up the Majors for their final at-bat. Jake Mills reached in the bottom of the ninth on a walk, but the Majors couldn't do any more business, setting the final at 12-5
Aaron Williams took the loss for the Majors, going four-and-two-thirds innings allowing five runs on four hits. Thomas Weber got the win for Hendrix in five innings of work, allowing three runs on four hits.
