April 5, 2009
Southwestern University baseball traveled to #2 Millsaps with upset on their mind and made it happen as they defeated the Majors 8-6 in conference action on Saturday. With the win, the Pirates improve to 15-15 overall and 8-5 in SCAC conference action and remain in second place. Millsaps falls to 25-4 overall and 12-4 in the SCAC.
The Priates made their presence known early as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Todd Boone led off the game with a single to the right side and stole second. He advanced to third when Brent McMullen reached on an error by the second baseman and scored on a wild pitch for the first Pirate run of the game. With McMullen on second, Michael Murphy's long fly ball to right field advanced McMullen to third. Kyle Belski's RBI single to left gave SU the 2-0 lead.
Southwestern put two more runs on the board in the fourth on a two-run homerun by first-year LF Cray Betts and one run in the fifth to go up 5-0 after five. Millspas's began to get hot in the sixth as they put up two runs in the sixth and seventh inning to cut SU's lead to one, 5-4.
The comeback attempt spurred Southwestern into action as they put together a big eighth inning, scoring three runs on five hits to extend their lead back to four, 8-4. Millsaps' comeback fell short as they only scored two runs in the eighth and Chris Churchwell retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Brantley Freeman pitched great for the Pirates to earn the win and held Millsaps scoreless through five. He allowed just two runs on four hits with seven strike outs and two walks in six innings of work. Churchwell got the save with three innings of work allowing four runs on two hits with four strkeouts and two walks.
Betts led the way offensively going 2-4 from the plate with three RBI's and two runs, including one homerun and one stolen base. Belski was also impressive posting a 3-5 day with one run and one RBI. Four other Pirates recorded multi-hit days enroute to the win.
The Pirates will complete their series on Sunday beginning at 12:00 pm CST.