JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps baseball team jumped ahead of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and never looked, downing the Engineers 9-4 at Twenty Field on Wednesday.
Senior Gray Berry (two runs, one walk) and classmate Evan Scott (three RBIs, one run, triple, walk, hit by pitch) both registered two hits. Senior Bradley Pelle (RBI, run, stolen base), junior EJ Ousley (two RBIs, walk) and junior Mason Morgan (run, RBI, three walks) each recorded one hit.
Sixth-year Branyan Bounds earned four walks, two runs and an RBI against the Engineers.
Freshman Luke Hamblen stood on the mound for 2.0 innings striking out five batters, only allowing two hits and one run.
Graduate student Jackson Hood struck out two batters in the ninth.
Sixth year Wil Wood, redshirt junior Will Norris and freshman Cam Cressend struck out one batter in one inning of work on the mound.
In the bottom of the first inning, Bounds, Pelle, Berry, and Scott each crossed home plate to give the Majors an early 4-0 lead. Scott was hit by a pitch to bring Bounds home, Pelle scored on an Ousley sacrifice fly, Morgan singled home Berry and Scott crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Millsaps extended their lead to 5-0 after Scott tripled to score Berry in the second frame.
The Engineers responded in the top of the third inning with one run off an RBI ground out, bringing the score to 5-1.
The Majors answered again in the bottom of the fourth frame as Ousley singled to right field to bring Bounds home.
In the top of the fifth inning, RPI added two runs with a pair of hits to cut the deficit down to 6-3.
Millsaps loaded the bases in the seventh before a walk by Bounds sent Page home to keep the Majors ahead at 7-3.
Moments later, Pelle reached base on a fielder's choice to send Morgan home with Millsaps extending their advantage to 8-3.
Scott closed the seventh-inning scoring with a single allowing graduate David Abbadessa to score.
RPI added a run in the top of the ninth inning, but Millsaps maintained their lead to take down the Engineers 9-4 on Wednesday.
The same two squads will battle one more time at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Jackson
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.
