JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps baseball team were bested late by Belhaven in Game One of the Cowboy Maloney Series, 8-6 on Wednesday. A total of 10 pitchers were deployed by the Majors at Twenty Field ahead of Saturday's conference series.
Junior pitcher
Wil Wood struck out three batters in the first inning in 1.0 IP.
Chris Hart tallied two hits,
Bradley Pelle notched two RBIs and
Sam Pitre totaled a pair of runs.
Belhaven's first batter reached second base with an error followed by a passed ball. The Blazers then tallied the opening run with a hit to left field. Wood would then strikeout the next three Blazers to end his outing.
Millsaps answered right back in the bottom of the first inning. Hart would lead off the frame with a double. A sacrifice fly by
Mason Little would eventually score Hart from third.
The Majors would take the lead in the second thanks to an error by the Belhaven first baseman sending
Bradley Pelle and
Case Page home. In the third inning, Pelle would send a sacrifice fly into left to score
Sam Pitre from third and give Millsaps a 4-1 advantage.
The Blazers would tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning following a one-out error that led to three unearned runs.
Back-and-forth the teams would go with Millsaps regaining the lead in their half of the fifth. Pitre would walk, Little would single and then Brock would provide a savvy, infield bunt hit to load the bases. A balk would then make it 5-4 before Pelle tallied another sacrifice fly to score the Majors' sixth run.
In the seventh inning, the Blazers would walk in a run to cut the deficit to 6-5. Belhaven would then power back-to-back solo homers to claim a 7-6 advantage in the eighth. A diving catch in right center field by
Branyan Bounds would provide a crucial final out to end the threat with a Blazer on third.
Belhaven would add another run in the top of the ninth to push their edge to 8-6 and would hold on for the win.
The Majors will now travel to No. 2 Birmingham-Southern for a three-game SAA road series. Saturday will feature a doubleheader, beginning at 12 p.m. with live stats and video available at gomajors.com.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the Millsaps baseball program follow the Majors on Twitter and Instagram, like Millsaps Majors Athletics on Facebook or visit gomajors.com.