Buffs fight but Trevecca prevails
Nashville, Tenn. (Feb 2, 2008) --- The Milligan College baseball team opened up last Friday against pre-season # 17 Trevecca Nazarene University. The Buffaloes were leading 1-0 going into the bottom of the fifth when Trevecca managed to put up nine runs on three hits and two Milligan errors. Trailing ten to three going into the top of the ninth, the Buffs were able to push four runs across the plate to bring the game to a ten to seven score. With runners on first and third and two outs, batter Ryan Jamison was up to bat as the tying run with a 2-1 count when the game was called by the umpiring crew due to darkness. With such a call, the score was reverted back to the previous inning and thus the game ended 10-3. Brandon Murphy led the Buffs with three hits. Brian Busby, Justin Motte, Jeremy Hazen, John Ridenour and Dallas Crouch each had one hit for Milligan. Todd Caldwell, Toby Hoyle and Keith Fenner all saw time on the mound for the Buffs. Caldwell suffered his first loss of the season, while Fenner pitched three complete innings giving up only 1 Trevecca run.
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On Saturday, the Buffs came out swinging the bats early, scoring five runs in the first inning thanks to a grand slam home run by center fielder Jamison. The Buffs managed to add one more run in the bottom of the second, making the score 6-3. Milligan would go on to win the game 9-8. At the plate for Milligan, both Jamison and Crouch homered. Milligan only managed five hits but were able to push across 9 runs in the seven inning contest. Michael Dillow collected his first win of the season, pitching a complete four innings and Frank Newcomb earned his first save of the season for the Buffaloes.
The second contest on Saturday saw the Buffaloes defeated 10-4. Trevecca came out and scored four runs in the bottom of the first leaving the Buffaloes trailing 4-0 early. Milligan would come back however and cut the lead in half in the second inning only for Trevecca to increase their lead to 7-3. Trailing 10-4 after the top of the sixth, the game was called due to darkness. Ricky Morgan led the Buffs hitting, going 2 for 3. Busby, Mark Simo, Motte, Murphy and Crouch all had one hit apiece. On the mound for Milligan, Nathan Fritz suffered his first loss of the season.
“We have to do a better job of minimizing and avoiding the big inning from a defensive standpoint,” commented Head Coach Nathan Meade. “I feel like there was one bad inning in each game. Tough innings are going to happen but we cannot afford to make the mental mistakes that enable those innings to be prolonged and thus end up with two or three more runs resulting. Our kids played hard this weekend and I think there a definitely some positives we can bring out of here this weekend, but there are some things we are going to have to work on. |
