MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Feb. 6, 2016) â€" The Milligan College baseball team was a base hit away from having two wins on Saturday, but instead earned a split doubleheader against visiting Georgetown College Saturday at Anglin Field. Milligan lost the first game 4-3 before winning the second game 8-5.
 
The win for Milligan (1-3) was the first of the season and helped the Buffs avoid a four-game sweep after Georgetown (3-1) took both in the season-opening doubleheader on Friday.
 
Twelve Buffs recorded a hit on the day, including Hunter Townsend, Andrew Copas, Nelson Schneider and Justin Pearson who finished the doubleheader with two hits apiece.
 
Townsend had both of his hits in game one, his first coming on a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the fourth which cut a 4-0 Georgetown lead in half. He smacked it over the head of Tiger centerfielder Mike Desantis on the first pitch he saw, and Jake Weaver followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly which made it a one-run game.
 
Milligan rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning, putting two on with one out and loading the bases with two out, but the Buffs could not push the tying run across. Bryan Soto and Isaac Barkley both singled in the inning to set up the exciting finish.
 
In game two, Milligan jumped out on top 5-0 before two were out in the top of the first, and went on to add a pair in the third and one more in the fifth. The big first inning came thanks to two-RBI singles by Pearson and Thomas Miller, an Elizabethton native who transferred in this semester. For Miller, the two-run single came on a 1-2 pitch in his first at-bat as a Buff.
 
Milligan's third inning pair came following Copas drawing a bases-loaded walk and Shane Salley hitting a sacrifice fly two pitches later. Georgetown was never closer than three the rest of the way.
 
On the mound, Wyatt Richardson made the start in game one and suffered the loss while Townsend did not receive a decision in his game-two start. Jarrett Ramsey pitched two and two-thirds innings to close out game one, and Jacob Littleton and Corey Jenkins tag-teamed the last two and one-third innings of game two.
 
Ramsey struck out two and allowed only two base runners in his 2.2 innings. The latter pair combined to allow three hits and an unearned run. Littleton picked up the win while Jenkins earned the save.
 
Milligan will be back at it in another weekend four-game series Feb. 12-13 at Brewton-Parker College. The Buffs return home the following Friday-Saturday, Feb. 19-20, for a pair of doubleheaders against Taylor University.