by Jules Gonsoulin
sports editor
The Millsaps baseball team travelled to Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend to compete in the Southern Athletic Association’s annual tournament. Riding on a 19-20 regular season record, the Majors entered the tournament as considerable underdogs, losing their first game to Berry on Friday but won their second game against Sewanee before ultimately falling to Birmingham Southern later on Saturday in an elimination game.
The fourth-seeded Majors came out strong against the Sewanee Tigers in the first game of the day on Saturday, scoring four runs in the third inning. Cavan Breland, Issac Glenn and Lee Ogletree each recorded two hits in the game while Andy Page recorded one, and freshman Barrett Kaul secured the win with successful pitching, allowing only one run on three hits over six innings pitched. Ogletree also led the team with four runs batted in.
The Majors’ second game of the day was a heavily offensive one, with the final score tallied at 11-13 in favor of the Birmingham Southern Panthers. The Panthers jumped out to a big lead through six innings, scoring 13 runs to the Majors’ three. The Majors managed to post a strong comeback effort in the seventh and eighth innings, though, as Drew Wray and Glenn recorded two hits each, and Connor Woodall secured a team-leading three runs batted in. The Majors brought the score line to 13-11 in the eighth inning, but Birmingham Southern closed out the game to advance to the next round of conference play. Kenny Wright pitched for the Majors, and ended his season with a 4-2 overall record.
While this early tournament exit is disheartening for the Majors, and while the team will lose a solid handful of seniors, including Isaac Glenn, it retains a large, stellar freshman class full of experience and ready for next season.