CLINTON – The Millsaps Majors Baseball Team improved to 3-2 in the Maloney Series and gained a half game lead over Belhaven in the series with one game remaining as they defeated Mississippi College 10-9 in a thriller. The Majors were able to get the go ahead run in the ninth as senior Jules Roussel came through with a RBI single while junior Will Edwards shut the door for the win for their seventh straight win and 12th win out of the last 14 games.
The Majors got off to a great start as junior Stephen Gates started the game with a walk and senior Drew Leonard followed him as a pitch hit him. Junior Wes Perkins came to the plate and doubled down the right field line to score both runners and make it a 2-0 game. After two outs, Roussel came to the plate and launched a deep home run to right center to increase the Majors lead to 4-0.
Mississippi College responded with two runs, one coming in the first and one in the third to cut the deficit to 4-2. The Majors got another run back in the fourth after sophomore Kevin Wall led the inning off with a hit by pitch. After stealing second and moving to third on a deep fly ball by freshman Samuel Doucet, senior Andrew Evans came through with a sacrifice fly to left to make it 5-2.
The Choctaws came back with two in the bottom of the fourth to make it a one run game. Senior Ryan Zemke put the Majors back up by two with RBI single in the fifth after Leonard led the inning off with a double to make it 6-4, Millsaps.
The Majors put three more on the board in the seventh after MC cut it down to one again. With one out, Perkins came to the plate and blasted a home run to left, his team leading fifth of the season, to make it a 7-5 game. Millsaps added two more in the inning thanks to sacrifice fly from Wall and a double steal executed to perfection as Roussel took off for second with two outs to force a wide throw to bring home Zemke.
Mississippi College would not go away as they responded in the bottom of the seventh with four runs in the inning to finally catch the Majors and tie it at nine.
Millsaps got it back in the ninth as Perkins led the inning off with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt from freshman Keith Shumaker and a hit by pitch to Zemke, Roussel came through in a key situation and found a hole through the right side of the infield to score Perkins and go up 10-9.
Junior Will Edwards then came in and shut the door as he put MC down in order to earn his first save of the season. Shumaker earned the win for the Majors as he pitched in the eighth to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Majors pitched seven different pitchers with great performances coming from sophomore Zander Romano, senior Alex Granier, Edwards, and Shumaker.
Offensively, Roussel continues to swing a hot bat as he went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and one run scored including a two run homerun. Perkins added a 2-for-4 day including three RBIs, a homerun, a double, and three runs scored. Wall added the other multi-hit game of the day, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a RBI and a run scored.
The Majors improve to 22-10 on the season and go to 3-2 in the Maloney Series. They have one game remaining as they travel to Belhaven (2-2) next Tuesday with a chance to clinch the Maloney Series Trophy. Meanwhile, in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play, the 7-1 Majors return to action this weekend as they welcome in the Rhodes Lynx with Game One beginning on Friday at 1 p.m.
