MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (April 21, 2017) â€" Austin Perry struck out a career high 11 to help the Milligan College baseball team bounce back from a game one defeat to pick up a game two win against St. Andrews University Friday afternoon on a rain-soaked Anglin Field. Milligan lost game one 5-3 but won game two 4-3.
 
The day featured a couple of rain/lightning days as well as a two-hour delayed start, but the two teams managed to play both games of the scheduled doubleheader. Milligan moved to 22-24 (10-13 AAC) while St. Andrews moved to 22-28 (7-16 AAC).
 
Perry threw his third complete game of the season in the night cap, allowing eight hits and three earned runs while walked just one and striking out a career high 11 over seven innings. Perry gave up two of his runs in the second inning as St. Andrews jumped out on top with back-to-back two-out singles.
 
Milligan quickly responded with a trio of homers, two coming in the bottom half off the bats of Bryan Soto and Justin Pearson. Soto's was a solo shot while Pearson's was a two-run dinger, both down the left field line on a 1-2 count. Julian Johnson, who scored on Pearson's home run, had a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the third to make it 4-2.
 
St. Andrews made it interesting in the top of the seventh by getting runners to second and third with only one out in a 4-2 ballgame, but Perry coaxed a couple of groundouts to end the game.
 
Johnson ended game two with a two-hit effort, going 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI. Hunter Suggs made the final play of the game on a ground ball up the middle and finished as one of three other Buffs with a hit.
 
In game one, St. Andrews did all of its scoring in the first three innings. In the first, the Knights benefitted from a two-out double which scored one and in the second, they scored two despite having two out and the bases clear. The damage all came from a single to right field off the bat of Terrence Jackson which scored two runs and made it 4-0.
 
St. Andrews added one more run of insurance in the third on a one-out single.
 
Milligan made a similar effort as St. Andrews did in the second game to rally back in the bottom of the seventh by scoring three runs and getting the tying run to the plate. The Buffs had three hits in the inning including a Jascanel Ferreras two-out single which brought home Juan Vasquez and an Andrew Copas double a batter later which scored Ferreras from first.
 
Starting pitcher Jacob Littleton suffered the loss in game one as he went six innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits and five walks. He struck out two.
 
Milligan and St. Andrews will look to finish the series on Saturday, weather pending. After that, the Buffs have one more series in the regular season as they hit the road for Union College next weekend.