BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — On Saturday, the Millsaps College baseball team opened up Southern Athletic Association (SAA) play with a doubleheader at Birmingham Southern College.

The Panthers came in to the weekend ranked as the No. 8 team in the most recent D3Baseball.com Top-25 Poll.

The Majors scored five of their six runs via the long ball in the first game to score the 6-2 victory. BSC responded with a 12-2 win in the second game of the twinbill.

Millsaps is now 6-8 overall and 1-1 in SAA play.
 
Game 1
After a pair of scoreless innings to open the ballgame, the Majors broke things wide open in the top of the 3rd inning. 

Jackson Hailey and Sam Pitre each singled, and Jimmy Johnstone was hit by a pitch to load the bases. In the very next at bat Fritz Walker III launched his third home run of the season to give Millsaps a 4-0 lead. 

That would have been enough run support for Langston Haden who was nearly unhittable for over 7+ innings. Haden pitched 7.1 innings, allowed just 4 hits and only a pair of earned runs. He also struck out 4 Panther batters. 

BSC did score a pair of runs in their half of the 3rd, but that was all the Majors allowed. 

Millsaps add a pair of insurance runs in the 9th inning, one from an Avery Brock solo homerun, and another on a Mark Petkovsek sacrifice fly. Ryan Erwin then worked around a pair of base hits in the bottom of the 9th to secure the 6-2 win. 

Game 2
The Majors picked up right where they left off in the second game. With one out in the top of the 1st Johnstone singled. Walker followed with a double to put a pair of runners in scoring positions for Millsaps. Brock came through with a single to score both players and give the Majors a 2-0 advantage. 

Unfortunately, the Panthers responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, and went on to score ten runs unanswered over the next six innings to pick up a 12-2 win.  

What's Next
The two teams wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon with one game. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.