MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (March 8, 2014) â€" Milligan College baseball rebounded from an 11-4 defeat in game one with a 5-0 blanking in game two to split an AAC doubleheader with Union College Saturday at Anglin Field.
 
The teams will decide the series with a nine-inning contest Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
Milligan (6-7, 2-3 AAC) was led in game two by right-hander Jake Watts' outstanding performance in his fourth start of the season. The junior, after watching Milligan's pitching staff struggle in game one, opened game two with five shutout innings of one-hit ball.
 
Watts ran into self-induced trouble via a hit, walk and a hit batsman in the third but managed to escape without any damage. In the fifth, he issued three walks to load the bases with two out but again worked himself free from the jam.
 
Watts, who never had more than a one-run cushion, did not allow anyone on base in the first, second, or fourth. He was the winning pitcher and improved to 2-1.
 
Milligan's offense went to work in the bottom of the sixth, after Watt's departure, and pushed across four runs on two hits to put the game away. The two hits came by way of Hunter Carpenter and Corey McPherson doubles to right field, each after working long counts. Carpenter's double scored two. McPherson's scored one.
 
Four Buffaloes had hits in game two, including Ernesto Fernandez who was 1-for-1 with an RBI and a run. His RBI put Milligan on top in the first inning.
 
In game one, Milligan suffered from a rocky start, allowing Union (14-6, 4-1 AAC) to go up 3-0 before recording the game's first out. Milligan battled back and threatened to take the lead in the third. After falling behind 6-1 through two and a half, Fernandez hit a one-out double to right, scoring two to make it 6-4. Edwin Soto singled later in the inning, but neither runs would come across to score.
 
In the fifth, Union put the game away with a grand slam off the bat of cleanup hitter Nelson Price. Price finished game one 3-for-5 with five RBI's.
 
Sam Tarlton and Luke Kirk each went 2-for-4 in game one.