ATHENS, Tenn. (April 11, 2015) â€" Sam Tarlton picked a great time to hit his first home run of the season. After a seventh-inning rally fell short in a 4-3 loss in game one, the senior third baseman from Chuckey smacked a game-winning long ball to right field, and the Milligan College baseball team won the nightcap 2-1 in nine innings over No. 10 Tennessee Wesleyan College on Saturday.
 
Milligan (18-10, 10-8 AAC) and Tennessee Wesleyan (31-9, 15-4 AAC) will conclude the three-game series Sunday at 12 p.m., and the Buffaloes will likely turn to senior Josh Peterson, the reigning Appalachian Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, for the rubber game.
 
Tarlton's home run, the second of his career, would not have been possible without Nate Clifton's RBI-single that tied the game 1-1 with one out in the top of the seventh. Clifton came to the plate with Tarlton on first and Shane Salley on second, and facing the same pitcher who coaxed him into a game-ending fly ball in game one, drove in the tying run with a base hit to left field.
 
That paved the way for Tarlton who gave the Buffs the lead two innings later, but it wasn't without some work by the defense in between. Codie Campbell, who opened the game with six strong innings featuring five hits and only one run, was relieved in the seventh by Jarrett Ramsay who escaped trouble in all but the final inning.
 
In the seventh and eighth, the 10th-ranked Bulldogs put runners on second and third â€" the winning run 90 feet from the plate â€" but Ramsay induced a flyout in the seventh and got a strikeout to end the eighth. Ramsay used 11 pitches and struck out two in a perfect ninth to seal the win.
 
Clifton finished the doubleheader with only the one hit but wasn't the only Buffalo to struggle at the plate as Brandon Malone and Tarlton were the only ones with multiple hits. Tarlton hit two doubles and was a triple shy of the cycle for the day.
 
Tyler Weir highlighted his day with a three-run homer with two out in the third inning of game one. The home run was Weir's first of his career and made it a 4-3 game, but Milligan would get no closer. The Buffaloes biggest chance came in the last inning when Tarlton's two-out double down the left field line sent Salley from first to third, but the tying run was left there when TWC's Logan Longwith came in for the final out.
 
Jake Watts threw the first two innings of game one and was relieved in the third by Austin Perry who fired four shutout innings to keep Milligan close. Perry allowed two hits and two walks while striking out two.
 
Wesleyan scored its runs in the first and second off Watts via the long ball. Shortstop Wardy Polanco, the reigning AAC Hitter of the Week, hit a solo home run with two out in the first, and designated hitter Tim Kiene followed in the second with a two-run shot. The Bulldogs added one more in the second to make it 4-0 before Weir's homer made it 4-3.
 
Tennessee Wesleyan entered the weekend series riding high from a midweek win over No. 1 Faulkner University. The 8-7 victory at home for the Bulldogs was the second time this season they knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation as they also handed No. 1 Cumberland University a 13-7 defeat on Feb. 11. TWC was ranked No. 23 in the preseason poll and currently has its highest national ranking of the season at No. 10.
 
After Milligan and Tennessee Wesleyan finish the series on Sunday, Milligan will return home for a Monday doubleheader against Bluefield, a Tuesday doubleheader against Southern Wesleyan, and a weekend series against St. Andrews.