ROME, Ga. – After last night's 15-0 shutout of Berry moved Centre into the winners' bracket of the SAA Tournament, the Colonels suffered a pair of losses on Friday as they fell to Millsaps 16-10 before losing to Rhodes
Game 1: Millsaps 16, Centre 10
- The opening game could not have started worse for the Colonels, as a pair of errors led to three unearned runs and the Majors took a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
- Centre got a run back in the second as
Patrick Hope worked a leadoff walk and later scored following consecutive singles by
Luc Morgan,
Dillon Di Iorio and
Perry Nadreau, whose base hit provided the RBI.
- In Centre's half of the third inning,
Josh Cunningham ripped a double to left and
Karson Thompson brought him home with a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 4-3.
- Millsaps led off the bottom of the third with a homer, but the Colonels responded in the fourth as Cunningham drove in
Conner Jackson with a sacrifice fly.
- Trailing 5-4 in the sixth, the Centre offense exploded.
Jordan Gunter and
Mark Pyburn led off the inning with consecutive doubles to tie the game, and then Cunningham blasted a two-run home run to put Centre on top for the first time. Hope walked and Thompson was hit by a pitch, and then an error moved the runners to second and third. RBI singles by Morgan and Jackson made it 9-5, and Centre put a cap on a six-run inning with a sac fly from Gunter.
- The Majors scored two runs in the seventh, and then made a massive rally of their own against the Centre bullpen in the eighth, scoring nine runs on seven hits and an error to provide the final margin.
Game 2: Rhodes 10, Centre 5
- After scoring 18 runs in an elimination game victory over Berry, the Lynx struck quickly against the Colonels scoring runs in each of the first three innings.
- The Colonels finally ended the Rhodes no-hit bid in the fifth as
Luc Morgan belted a solo homer to cut the deficit to 4-1.
- In the sixth, Centre got two more back as Cunningham singled and scored on an error that put Thompson on third. Morgan then drove in another run as his sac fly scored Thompson and the Colonels cut the Rhodes lead to 4-3. However, a grand slam by the Lynx in the bottom half of the sixth put the Colonels in a five-run hole.
- Centre refused to go down without a fight, scoring two more in the eighth.
Teddy Holloway led off the inning with a pinch hit walk. After Gunter walked, Pyburn singled to plate the first run of the frame. A sacrifice fly by Cuningham scored Gunter and the Colonels chipped away, cutting it to 8-5, but that was as close as it got as the Lynx tacked on a pair of insurance runs to seal the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORES
- Five different Centre players finished with multiple hits in game 1, led by Morgan with three.
- Morgan capped off an outstanding tournament with a hit and two more RBIs against Rhodes in game 2.
- Cunningham tied for a game high with three RBIs against Millsaps.
