LAURINBURG, N.C. (May 1, 2014) â€" Despite trading runs through the first six and a half innings, the Milligan College baseball team gave up four in the bottom of the seventh in a 7-5 losing effort at St. Andrews University Thursday night.
 
With the loss, Milligan concluded the regular season with a record of 22-25 (12-15 AAC). Milligan will be either the seven or the eight seed in next week's conference tournament in Kingsport, Tennessee, depending on how Montreat (20-27, 10-15 AAC) fares Friday and Saturday against Tennessee Wesleyan and Point. Milligan is currently ranked seventh but will fall to eighth if the Cavaliers win both.
 
Thursday's game saw the Buffaloes rally back from a deficit on three occasions, but it was ultimately St. Andrews University's Kyle Shade who broke the back of a resilient Milligan squad. The left fielder hit a two-run triple with two out in the bottom of the seventh which put the Knights on top 7-3 and proved to be the difference in the game.
 
Until that point, Milligan's rallies included an Edwin Soto ground ball that tied the game in the third inning, back-to-back two-out doubles by Hunter Carpenter and Tyler Weir which tied the game in the sixth, and a Soto single, accompanied by a Shade error, that scored Cody Hyder to tie it in the seventh. Milligan left the go-ahead run stranded at second in the sixth and seventh.
 
Milligan threw six arms, including Tyler Wilson and Ethan Fleenor who went two apiece. Jake Howell suffered the loss as his single inning of work saw the Knights rattle him for four earned runs on four hits.
 
Weir and Hyder each finished the game 3-for-4 to lead Milligan's offense. Soto and Carpenter each had two hits.
 
In the ninth, Milligan once again began a rally and threatened to tie as Brandon Malone scored two on a one-out double to right-center field. But relief pitcher D'Aundray VanSlyke punched out two to end the game.
 
Along with deciding Milligan's postseason seed, Friday and Saturday's games also will decide the regular season winner. Tennessee Wesleyan (29-20-1, 18-8 AAC) can win the league's regular season with a victory over Montreat Friday at 2 p.m. If Montreat is victorious, Reinhardt (33-22, 18-9 AAC) will win the league as Reinhardt took two out of three from Tennessee Wesleyan over the first week of March.
 
The full tournament schedule will be released over the weekend.