Trailing 2-1 into the eighth inning the Centre College baseball team allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth to fall 5-1 to Birmingham Southern in a first round game of the SAA Tournament Friday, April 26 in Birmingham, Ala.

The No. 2 seeded Panthers jumped on the board early with a first inning run to go in front 1-0.

Two innings later, the Colonels tied the game. Sophomore Trey Litsey (Louisville, Ky.) doubled to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by freshman Zach Montgomery (Louisville, Ky.) moved him to third and a sacrifice fly by junior Kyle Cook (Maineville, Ky.) made it a 1-1 game.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Birmingham Southern scored an unearned run with two outs to take a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers (28-13) added three more in the eighth and limited the Colonels to only one base-runner in the final four innings.

Senior Joe Nash (Elizabethtown, Ky.) took the loss after allowing three runs - two earned - over seven innings. He surrendered six hits, walked one and struck out four.

Litsey had half of Centre's hits as he finished 2-for-4 on the night with a run scored.

The Colonels (13-24) will next play Rhodes College in an elimination game Saturday, April 27. The game will be played at Vestavia Hills High School and is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. CDT.