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MILLINGTON, Tenn. – In a battle between two of the best pitchers the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference had to offer, junior Will Edwards of Millsaps and senior Ben Klimesh of Trinity collided in the first game of the SCAC Tournament on Thursday afternoon. Despite a complete game from both, Klimesh's Tigers squeaked by the Edward's Majors with a 2-1 win in an incredible battle.
In a sun-drenched day at USA Stadium, Klimesh put Millsaps down in order to start the game. After a leadoff hit, a bunt, and an error, Edwards faced runners at first and third with one out. However, Edwards pulled off a brilliant move to pick off Trinity's Christian Muscarello to get the second out and struck out Nick Pappas to end the inning to keep the game scoreless.
Trinity struck in the second as Kevin Clements hit a line drive home just over the left field fence to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. It didn't seem to faze Edwards at all as he got the next two outs to end the inning. The two then put each other down in order in the next two half innings.
The Tigers tried to push more runs across in the bottom of the fourth with runners at second and third and two outs. Edwards then struck out Will Donnan looking to end the inning.
Millsaps came up in the top of the fifth, looking to make a move as freshman Keith Shumaker walked to lead the inning off and senior Ryan Zemke followed him up with a double to left center to put runners at second and third with no outs. However, Klimesh came through with no runs allowed to keep the game at 1-0.
Trinity added another run in the fifth thanks to a single from Dominik Robusto to increase their lead to 2-0, but Edwards calmly put the Tigers down to keep the score as is.
The two pitchers continued to roll on the mound as they kept their opponents off balance throughout the game. Millsaps came up in the eighth and got a leadoff walk from freshman Samuel Doucet followed by a single from senior Jules Roussel as both runners advanced on an error.
Sophomore Kevin Wall reached on a fielder's choice to score one, but Millsaps could not get a second run home as the score remained 2-1. Klimesh hung on in the ninth to get the win as the Majors dropped into the loser's bracket for tomorrow afternoon.
Edwards was terrific, going eight innings and allowing eight hits to go with two earned runs while striking out five and walking one. He took the tough loss, dropping to 8-3 on the year. Klimesh pitched a complete game while giving up three hits and striking out eight to go to 12-2 on the year.
Offensively, Zemke, Roussel, and senior Andrew Evans each had a hit while Wall drove in the only run.
The Majors drop to 25-15 on the year, but remain alive in the tournament. They will play tomorrow afternoon as they will play Hendrix in an elimination game at noon. Be sure to watch live at ihigh.com/millsapsmajors.
