JACKSON – Playing in its final regular season game at Twenty Field, the Millsaps College baseball team scored early and never looked back en route to a 10-3 victory over visiting Rhodes College on Wednesday night.
The Majors took an early 4-0 lead as the first four batters of the game came around to score led highlighted by a pair of two-run hits by
Will Hawkins and
Tyler Berry.
Rhodes cut the deficit in half in the second inning behind a two-run double off the bat of Chris Conkell but
Drew Leonard made up for an error with a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning for a 5-2 Millsaps advantage.
Berry added another two-run double with two outs as the Majors extended their lead to 7-2 through two complete innings.
The Lynx took advantage of a fielding error by
Josh Ordeneaux to get one run in the fourth down 7-3.
Jules Roussel answered in the Millsaps half of the fourth with a solo home run, tying Berry for the team lead with his ninth home run of the season.
Usually seen as a reliever,
Boomer Hudson started the game for the Majors throwing the first five innings scattering three hits and three runs –two earned – with four strikeouts.
Hudson picked up the victory improving to 5-3 on the season while Austin Carden took the loss for the Lynx allowing nine runs in six innings of work.
John Marshall Pemberton entered in relief of Hudson and pitched the next three innings allowing just one hit while striking out five.
The Majors built on their lead in the bottom of the seventh with two runs coming via a bases-loaded walk and hit batter for a 10-3 advantage.
Coming into the game to pitch the ninth inning,
Elliot Varney gave up a hit to the first batter he faced but promptly got the next batter to ground into a double-play where Leonard made a great individual effort after the ball bounced off the mound.
Varney struck out the next batter to end the game, 10-3 in favor of Millsaps, who have now won six straight games heading into the final weekend of conference play.
Roussel finished the game 4-for-5 from the plate while Ordeneaux, Hawkins and Berry all added two hits apiece.
The Majors will head to San Antonio, Texas, for a pivotal three-game series with Trinity University in a battle for the SCAC West Division crown, as the Tigers enter the weekend one game ahead of the Majors.