MT. BERRY, Ga. – The Millsaps baseball team split an SAA doubleheader at Berry College on Thursday. The Majors won a thrilling opener, 6-5 before the Vikings responded with a 12-2 decision in seven innings at William R. Bowdoin Field.

Game 1: 6-5, W
 
A total of seven Majors tallied a hit in the opening game. Graduate Chris Hart finished 2-4 with a run scored and tallied an RBI. Senior Austin Arceneaux homered, accumulated two RBIs and scored a run.
 
Freshman Stewart Bonnecaze tossed seven quality innings and gave up just three runs. He struck out five, walked three and yielded seven hits. Sophomore Nick Tarantino earned the win with two innings pitched with a strikeout, two walks, three hits against and two runs.
 
Both offenses were kept off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when the Majors struck first. Hart led off the inning with a single and reached third following a senior Sam Pitre walk and junior Case Page sacrifice bunt. Arceneaux stepped up and scored Hart with a long sacrifice fly to center field.
 
The Majors used a big, three-run seventh to create some more distance. Senior Joshua Laurent doubled to begin the offensive surge. Back-to-back Berry errors brought Laurent home for a 2-0 advantage. Hart singled in the third run and Pitre used a sacrifice bunt to plate sophomore Bradley Pelle.
 
Berry fought back with three runs following the seventh-inning stretch. A trio of singles led to the Vikings' first run. A triple later cleared the bases and made it a 4-3 deficit.
 
Arceneaux responded with a solo home run to left field to begin the eighth inning. The Vikings used a walk and three consecutive singles to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Needing to find an answer, the Majors took up the challenge and scored a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. Junior David Abbadessa led off the frame with a single to right field. Hart followed by bunting his teammate to second. Moments later, Pitre forced a throwing error on the Berry shortstop which brought Abbadessa home for a 6-5 lead.
 
Tarantino struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth, walked the second batter, but ended the game with back-to-back fly outs for the victory.
 
Game 2: 12-2 (7 inn,), L
 
The Vikings used a pair of big innings to pull away and even the series in Game Two. Pelle batted 2-2 with a run scored and a double. Both Abbadessa and junior Jackson Ware recorded a hit and an RBI each.
 
Sophomore Remington Bull (1.0 IP) pitched a scoreless seventh inning, surrendering just one hit.

The hosts jumped ahead with seven first-inning runs. Millsaps scored a run in fourth courtesy of a Pitre hit by pitch, back-to-back singles and a Ware sacrifice fly.
 
The Majors continued to fight by cutting the deficit to 7-2 in the fifth. Pelle doubled with one out and was sent home by an Abbadessa single down the left-field line. The Vikings added five runs in the bottom of the fifth and held for a 12-2 win.
 
Millsaps and Berry will look to decide the series in Game Three, weather permitting, on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. CDT with live video and stats available at gomajors.com.
 
 
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