To listen to Millsaps head coach Jim Page, click here.
To listen to Millsaps senior Ryan Zemke, click here.
MILLINGTON, Tenn. – The Millsaps Majors Baseball Team opened things up on Day Two of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament as they took on the Hendrix Warriors in an elimination game on Friday afternoon. The Majors used a four run sixth inning to come from behind and eliminate the Warriors to stay alive in the tournament as they will return to play tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
Hendrix got on the board first as drove two home thanks to a RBI triple from JT Bower followed by a RBI singles by his brother Aaron Bower to put the Warriors on top.
Freshman pitcher Samuel Doucet settled in and did not allowed another run and only allowed two hits in the rest of his start. Millsaps looked to come back in the bottom half of the second as junior Jerrod Myers led the inning off with a walk. After two outs, freshman Keith Shumaker singled through the right side to make it first and third with two gone. Millsaps could not convert though and remained down 2-0.
Millsaps was back at it in the fourth as Myers again walked with one out. After a groundout advanced Myers to second, he found himself on third after ball four to senior Drew Leonard got away from the catcher as Millsaps got first and third again with two outs. Shumaker came through with a RBI singles to cut the deficit in half; however, the Majors could not add anymore.
The Majors got first and third again in the fifth with one out as senior Jules Roussel stepped to plate. He ripped a ball down the first base line, but right into the glove of Mark Vlaskamp who stepped on first to complete the double play and keep the game as is.
Millsaps finally broke through in the first as Myers walked for the third time and Leonard singled to right to make it first and third with one out. Shumaker put down a safety squeeze that Myers beat out at home as both runners moved to second and third after the ball got away from the catcher to tie the game. Sophomore Kevin Wall then hit a sacrifice fly to give the Majors a 3-2 lead.
Junior Stephen Gates then ripped a double off the left center wall to score Shumaker and senior Ryan Zemke followed him up with a double down the left field line and in a blink of an eye, the Majors took a 5-2 lead. Millsaps added one more in the eighth off a suicide squeeze by Roussel to take the 6-2 lead.
Sophomore Zander Romano pitched the last two innings to finish the game and keep the Majors alive for another day. Doucet, who earned his second win of the season pitched 7.0 inning while only giving up two runs off six hits while striking out one and walking one. Geoff Lomax took the loss for the Warriors.
Offensively, Zemke was terrific going 4-for-5 with a RBI while Shumaker was 2-for-4 with two RBIs which were the first two runs that tied the game. Myers did not record an official at bat as he was walked three times and put down a sacrifice bunt while score two runs. Every time Myers got on, he found a way to give Hendrix problems.
Millsaps goes to 26-15 and awaits finals from Game 5 and Game 6 before they find out whom they may play. If the University of Dallas defeats Trinity, Millsaps will play the Crusaders. If not, the Majors will play the loser of BSC and Rhodes. Either way the game will start at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.
