March 25, 2007
The Southwestern Pirates baseball team picked up its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win on Saturday (Mar. 24) as SU earned a split with 13th-ranked Millsaps College in Georgetown, TX.
Millsaps 13, Southwestern 2
In game one, the Majors jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of earned runs of Pirate starter Scott Rogers (Flower Mound, TX/Marcus HS) in the opening frame. Southwestern then fell behind 9-0 after Millsaps scored seven runs in the top half of the third on six hits and two Pirate errors.
MC then extended its lead to 11-0 with two more runs in the fourth before the Pirates got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. SU opened the inning with a pair of singles from Richard Falcone (Houston, TX/Westside HS) and Ryan Bellomy (Dallas, TX/Jesuit HS) before senior Brad Culling (Albuquerque, NM/St. Pius HS) stroked a two-out triple to right centerfield to score two and make the score 11-2. The Pirates allowed a single run in the fifth and seventh innings for the 13-2 final.
Falcone was 2-3 in the game with one run scored while Bellomy had one hits in three at-bats and one run scored. Culling's triple was his only hit of the game and it was his second triple of the season.
First-year Matt Clark (Spring, TX/Klein HS) enjoyed a 2-2 game and Michael Murphy (Houston, TX/Austin HS) was the third Pirate with multiple hits as he went 2-3 in the contest.
Rogers allowed nine runs, eight of them earned, over two innings while giving up seven hits, walking two and striking out one. He took the loss for SU and his record falls to 1-5 on the year.
Southwestern 4, Millsaps 3
The Pirates were able to score first in the second game after leadoff hitter Landon Durham (Pearland, TX/Pearland HS) reached second on a throwing error by the pitcher. Falcone was then hit by a pitch followed by Murphy walking with one out. Eric Gonzales (Austin, TX/Bowie HS) then singled to right field for the RBI as Durham came around and scored.
The Majors managed to tie the game in the top of the fourth thanks to a double steal. SU came right back in the bottom of the fourth when the Millsaps starter walked four straight batters with one out to force in a run. After a pitching change, Murphy hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Durham from third and put the Pirates ahead 3-1.
Millsaps added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie things up at 3-3. Southwestern's starting pitcher, Wes Willis (Austin, TX/Austin HS), really dug in during the later innings and pitched out of multiple jams. In the seventh, with a man on third and one out, he got a crucial strikeout followed by a groundout to end the inning. In the eighth, Millsaps got runners on second and third with nobody out and Willis struck out the next two batters and snagged a hard line drive hit right at him to end the threat.
The game went to the 10th inning still tied at three. In the top half of the frame, the Majors again got a man to third as a result of an error at shortstop by Clark. Reliever Austin Alvis (Houston, TX/Houston Christian HS) struck out the following hitter and then induced a fly out to center to end the inning. In the bottom of the tenth, first-year John Wooten (Columbus, TX/Columbus HS) tripled to left center with one out. Clark and Durham were then intentionally walked and then with two outs, Wooten scampered home on a wild pitch for the 4-3 victory.
Murphy went 2-2 in the game with two walks and one run batted in. Wooten was 1-2 with one run scored and his triple was his third of the season. He leads the team in that category. Durham walked twice and scored twice despite not recording a hit. Clark drew three walks and was able to score a run for SU.
Willis threw 154 pitches in eight innings, scattering nine hits and allowing just three earned runs. He struck out eight batters and walked four in earning a no-decision. Alvis picked up the win in relief, the first of his collegiate career, going two innings and giving up no runs on just one hit and striking out one. He is now 1-0 on the season.
The Pirates' record moves to 9-17, 1-2 in SCAC play while Millsaps is now 18-6, 4-3 in the conference.
The two teams close out their season series with a single game on Sunday (Mar. 25) in Georgetown at 1:00 p.m.
SU Sports Information