DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre baseball team returned to Gary Wright Field for the first of four games against the Millsaps Majors. After a 4-3 comeback victory in game 1, the Colonels overcame a six-run deficit to complete the Saturday sweep with an 8-7 victory in game 2. Winners of four of their last five, the Colonels improved to over .500 for the first time since Mar. 13.
 
GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS
 
- The Colonels got on the board first in the first game as Patrick Hope lined a base hit up the middle, moved to second following a passed ball and scored on a double down the right field line by Jake Holloway.
- Over the next two innings, Millsaps would take the lead as the Majors tied the game on a solo homer in the second and then went up 3-1 on a pair of unearned runs following an error by starter Jess Miller.
- Miller would make up for his gaffe by holding the Majors scoreless through the next five innings and pitching his way out of a few predicaments.
- In the sixth, Will Ahrens singled and then with two outs, Joshua Cunningham drove him in with a game tying two-run home run, the second homer of the year for the freshman.
- With Miller holding it down on the mound and the score still tied in the eighth, the Colonels threatened with consecutive singles by Cunningham and Jamie Laframboise. The runners advanced after a passed ball, and following an intentional walk to Hope, Holloway worked a bases loaded walk to score Cunningham and put the Colonels on top 4-3.
- Luc Morgan worked a scoreless ninth inning to get his second save of the year.
 
GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS
 
- The Majors struck first in game two as their first three hitters singled, and following a walk and an error, Millsaps had a 3-0 lead before Centre swung the bat once.
- Centre got one back in the bottom of the first as Dillon Di Iorio doubled to score Hope and cut the lead to 3-1.
- Millsaps got a run in the second and then rallied for three more runs in the third to take a commanding 7-1 lead.
- The Colonels began to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the third. Hope led off with a single and Holloway ripped a double down the line in left. An RBI groundout by Chris Esselman made it 7-2 Millsaps, and then Di Iorio stepped up and launched a two-run blast to put the Colonels right back in the game at 7-4. The rally continued as a walk by Cunningham and singles by J. Ross and Ahrens made it 7-5.
- Centre put another crooked number on the board in the fourth. Holloway and Esselman were each hit by pitches to lead off. A walk to Di Iorio loaded the bases and Cunningham's ensuing walk put the Colonels to within a run at 7-6. A single by Ross and an RBI groundout by Ahrens put the Colonels on top 8-7.
- In the bottom of the sixth, Morgan inherited the bases loaded and two outs. He induced a groundout to get out of the jam and then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to lock down the save, his second of the day.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
 
- Hope finished 4-7 at the plate across the doubleheader with three runs scored. He was the only Centre player with multiple hits in both games.
- Miller earned his second win of the season, scattering ten hits across eight innings while only allowing one earned run on the solo homer in the second. He also picked off a runner at second base to end the Majors' rally in the third.
- Cunningham had a productive day at the plate for the Colonels, recording two hits, two walks, three runs scored and three RBIs.
- Mason King was outstanding in long relief, striking out four and allowing just two hits in 3.2 innings.
 
NEXT UP
 
Centre baseball will wrap up its season series with the Majors with two more games on Sunday.