MILLGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (April 30, 2016) â€" Austin Perry threw his sixth complete game of the season to lead the Milligan College baseball team to a win over No. 5 Tennessee Wesley College, 5-3, Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale at Anglin Field.
 
With a line of nine innings, three earned runs, two walks and six strikeouts, Perry helped the Buffs (21-29, 10-17 Appalachian Athletic Conference) avoid the series sweep while putting them in a tie for seventh place in league standings at the end of the regular season. Seeding for the AAC tournament, which is set to be played May 9-12 at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport, will be announced by the league office once all regular-season games around the league finish up.
 
Perry was only in trouble twice in the nine-inning gem, and the Buffs around him stepped up to make some big plays. In the seventh, Perry faced a situation which saw Tennessee Wesleyan put runners on second and third with one out in a 5-2 game, but Milligan limited the damage to only one run. First, there was a good play from Hunter Suggs at shortstop to nab a runner at third, then Justin Pearson had a nice sliding catch to end the inning.
 
Perry's only other blemish was in the second inning when the Bulldogs tagged him for two runs on two hits and two errors. Perry was dominant between the second and seventh, facing only two over the minimum during the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, and he ended the game with punctuation as he struck out TWC leadoff man Pedro Barrios looking.
 
Blake Dutton and Pearson were the keys offensively, each tallying three hits while Bryan Soto and Nate Clifton both had two hits. Pearson's first hit of the ballgame came in the bottom of the first on a single up the middle to score Soto and make it 2-0. After TWC tied it at 2-2 in the top of the second, Milligan responded with a run which put them ahead for good in the bottom half.
 
Andrew Copas, who had driven in a run in the first on a groundout, delivered this hit with a single to right which brought home Clifton.
 
Clifton then extended Milligan's lead in the sixth with a triple to deep right-center which scored Braden Jones, then after that, Clifton came around to score on a Dutton single.
 
In all, Milligan out-hit the No. 5 Bulldogs 13-9.
 
With the regular season over, Milligan will now turn its attention to the AAC tournament, which is set to be played May 9-12 at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport. Milligan will either be the seven or the eighth seed.