JACKSON- The Millsaps Majors got off to a solid start in the 2014 Maloney Series, knocking off the Mississippi College Choctaws 5-2 on Tuesday night at a rainy Twenty Field. 

Smokey Ethridge (pictured) threw a gem on Tuesday, going seven and a third innings scattering five hits allowing two runs, one earned while striking out six. James Perkins came in to get the final five outs and got the save. 

The offense put together an 11-hit attack led by three-hit efforts from Keith Shumaker and Isaac Glenn. Samuel Doucet scored two runs to go with a two-for-four night at the plate. 

The Majors grabbed single tallies in the first and the second. A timely two-out double from Blake Littlejohn brought home Shumaker, who had doubled earlier in the inning as the Majors struck first. Glenn led off the second on a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an Annon Etheridge ground out to make it 2-0. 

After a quiet third, the Choctaws got into the scoring column getting an unearned run off a Marty Stringfellow single. Stringfellow led MC with a three-hit night. Millsaps answered with a run of their own in the fourth, using a Doucet double and an error to set up an Andrew Rafferty sacrfice fly. 

Doucet would double again in the fifth to drive home Shumaker and came into score on a single by Isaac Glenn as the Majors took a 5-1 lead. MC would score again in the seventh on the back of a pinch-hit double. The big plays of the game came in the top of the eighth. After Ethridge gave way to Perkins, the freshman got back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded to quiet a Choctaw threat. 

Perkins then worked a three-up, three-down ninth to earn his first collegiate save. Ethridge gets his second win of the season, and as a Major, moving to 2-2. Millsaps has this weekend off and will hit the diamond again on Monday for a makeup game with the Belhaven Blazers. First pitch from Twenty Field is set for 4pm.