JACKSON, Miss. -- After playing their first 11 games in non-conference action this year, the Millsaps College baseball team kicked off the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) portion of their schedule on Saturday. 

The Majors opened up a three-game series with the Colonels of Centre College with a doubleheader at Twenty Field.

Game 1 saw Millsaps claim their first walk-off win of the season, 6-5 in 10 innings. In the second game of the afternoon the Colonels scored a pair of late runs and held on for a 2-1 win. 

Game 1
Neither team could get much going in the way of offense in the early innings, but it was the Colonels who broke through first in the 3rd. 

They scored 1 run on 3 hits to take a 1-0 lead. They then added 2 runs on 3 more hits in the 4th to move ahead 3-0.

The game remained 3-0 until the Millsaps offense responded in the bottom of the 6th inning. 

Jimmy Fondren led off the inning with a single, and one batter later Jackson Hailey followed that up with a single of his own to put two runners on for the Majors. In the very next at bat sophomore Will Neely sent a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run home run. 

Millsaps was not done there however, as William Warner singled and then stole second base. Keaton Page came through with a two-out double to score Warner and give the Majors a 4-3 lead. 

Unfortunately, Centre quickly responded with 2 runs in the top of the 7th to reclaim the lead at 5-4.

The Majors again had the answer however. With 1 out in the bottom of the 7th Fondren doubled off the right field fence. Mason Little followed that up with a single to left to score Fondren and tie it up at 5-5.

Both teams had scoring chances in the next two innings, but were unable to capitalize and the game went in to extra innings. 

In the top of the 10th the Colonels got a pair of runners on which forced Millsaps to make a pitching change and bring Fondren to the mound. He recorded the final two outs, including a fly out with the bases loaded to keep the game tied. 

The bottom of the 10th inning saw the Majors put a lot of pressure on the Colonel defense which led to the winning run scoring. 

Warner led off the inning with a walk and Page was hit by a pitch in the next at bat. Brennan Ducote laid down a bunt that Centre was unable to make a play on which loaded the bases with no outs in the inning. Later in the inning Fondren came to plate with 1 out. He bunted, Centre recorded the force out at home, but in attempting to double up Fondren at first base threw the ball into RF which allowed Page to came all the way around from second and score the winning run. 

All told, Fondren led the team with a pair of hits, and he also picked up his second win of the season on the mound. Offensively, Page finished the first game with a team-high 3 RBIs.

On the mound Zach Kodra and Ryan Erwin were outstanding in long relief. The pair combined to throw 6 innings, allowed just 3 hits and only 2 earned runs. They also had 5 strikeouts.

Game 2
The second game of the afternoon was also tightly contested, and at times looked destined for extra innings as well. 

Langston Haden got the start on the mound for Millsaps, and turned in an impressive outing that included 5 innings pitched, no runs allowed and 5 strikeouts. 

Again both teams struggled at the plate in the early innings, but this time it was the Majors' offense that broke through for a run in the 4th. 

Hailey led off the inning with a single, and Neely followed with a walk. A Christan Cooper sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position with just 1 out. In the next at bat Warner came through with a single to right which allowed Hailey to score the game's first run. 

Unfortunately, that would prove to be the only run the Majors would score in game 2.

Centre broke through for a pair of runs on 2 hits in the 6th, and that was all they needed for the 2-1 win. 

Millsaps was able to get the tying run to 3rd base in the bottom of the 7th, but the Colonels held on for the win to earn a split of the doubleheader.

What's Next?
Millsaps and Centre will return to Twenty Field tomorrow morning for the rubber game of the three-game set. Tomorrow's first pitch has been moved up to 11:00 a.m.