JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps baseball team improved to 12-5 after splitting a doubleheader with No. 14 Centre College, falling 2-1 before prevailing 5-4 in seven innings in a Southern Athletic Association doubleheader at Twenty Field on Sunday.
Game 1: 2-1, L
Senior Nick Tarantino continued his phenomenal start to the season, pitching 8.2 innings and tying a season- and career-high 14 strikeouts. The Covington, La., native only allowed two runs and three walks.
Classmate Bradley Pelle batted 3-for-4 against the Colonels while recording a triple and a run. Junior Mason Morgan finished 2-for-4 in hitting with a double.
Graduate Jackson Ware finished Game One with a double and junior EJ Ousley registered an RBI.
The Colonels singled and walked to open the game before loading the bases. Tarantino answered by forcing three Strikeouts to escape the early jam.
Pelle took advantage in the bottom of the first by blasting a triple off the right-center wall to open the series with momentum.
Soon after, Ousley cracked a sacrifice fly out to right field to bring Pelle home to give the Majors an early 1-0 lead.
Tarantino found his groove by securing three strikeouts swinging in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the third inning, Millsaps loaded the bases after graduate David Abbadessa walked, senior Gray Berry was hit by a pitch and Pelle reached with an infield single.
Ousley reached first base on a fielder's choice, but Abbadessa attempted to run home and was thrown out on the play. An ensuing double play ended the chance.
Millsaps later saw back-to-back doubles in the sixth inning by Morgan and Ware. Morgan was forced to hold at third base on Ware's double as the wind played havoc on balls leaving the infield all day, making it challenging to know where hits would drop.
Centre forced two ground outs to again escape the threat.
In the top of the ninth inning, the Colonels responded by opening the frame with two singles. After a pop up and foul out, Centre powered back-to-back, two-out singles to take a 2-1 lead.
Looking to make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning, freshman Charles Hunt would reach first base on an error with two outs. The Colonels caught an ensuing fly out on the final play to escape past the Majors, 2-1 in Game One.
Game 2: 5-4, W (7 innings)
Game Two saw the Majors battle all the way back from a four-run deficit and defeat the Colonels in seven innings. Hunt provided a walk-off pinch-hit single with two outs.
Graduate Case Page (RBI, run, stolen base), Berry (RBI, run, double) and Ousley (RBI, run) each recorded two hits.
Senior Evan Scott (run, walk), Pelle (double), Hunt (RBI), sixth year Branyan Bounds (RBI, walk) all registered a hit against the Colonels.
Sixth year Wil Wood pitched all seven innings on the mound. The Memphis, Tenn., native struck out two batters while only allowing three earned runs and two walks.
In the top of the third inning, Centre built a 4-0 lead over the Majors following three hits and two errors.
Millsaps got on board in the fourth after Page singled to the middle and advanced to second base on a throwing error that ended up in the Colonel dugout.
Moments later, a Bounds single to left center sent Page home to score an unearned run.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Berry, Scott and Ousley each batted a single. Berry would reach home plate on Ousley's base knock to reduce the deficit to 4-2.
After a trio of strong hits by the Majors, Page grounded out, but sent Scott home to cut the contest down to 4-3.
In the bottom of the sixth frame, Millsaps continued to mount a comeback after Berry doubled to right center to bring Abbadessa all the way around from first base home. The Majors tied the contest at 4-4.
Looking to secure a win in the final inning, Ousley would single to left center and later advance to third after an error and Morgan fly out.
Hunt stepped in to pinch hit with two outs and hit a tailing ball past first base just inside the foul line. The ball appeared to get caught in the wind and drop out of a Colonels glove running toward the right-field line.
Ousley touched home plate to send the Majors streaming out onto the field to embrace Hunt in a jubilant, jumping celebration past first base.
Hunt's walk-off single helped the Majors complete the comeback and defeat the Colonels, 5-4 in Game Two on Sunday.
The Majors will be back in action to face No.14 Centre in Game Three on Monday, beginning at noon. Live video and live stats will be available at gomajors.com.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the Millsaps College baseball program follow the Majors on X and Instagram, like Millsaps Majors Athletics on Facebook or visit gomajors.com.
Founded in Jackson, Mississippi in 1890, Millsaps College is a national liberal arts college dedicated to academic excellence, open inquiry and free expression, the exploration of faith to inform vocation and the innovative shaping of the social, economic and cultural progress of our region. Consistently ranked as one of the best values in higher education, Millsaps has been praised by Colleges That Change Lives, The Princeton Review, Forbes Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, The John Templeton Foundation, and The Fiske Guide to Colleges.
