CLEVELAND, Ga. (March 10, 2018) â€" Bailey Russell had two hits and Brandon Laboy hit a two-run homer in the fifth, but the Milligan College baseball team lost the finale of a three-game Appalachian Athletic Conference series against Truett-McConnell University, 5-2, Saturday morning. The game was moved up in the day in order to avoid rain forecasted for the afternoon.
 
Milligan strung together seven hits from six Buffs but suffered from a slow start which saw Truett plate three runs in the first two innings. Those runs proved to be the difference.
 
MID-GAME PUSH
After the Bears took a 3-0 lead off Milligan starter Garrett Hartley, Laboy made a dent in the deficit with a two-run homer, his third of the season, in the fifth inning. Those two runs came after Truett had two out and the bases clear in the inning. Russell started the small rally with a two-out single through the left side, and Laboy followed with a homer to left on an 0-2 count.
 
LATE-GAME INTENSITY
Truett responded with a two-run sixth to go back out to a three-run lead, but Milligan put together another would-be rally in the seventh. Ryan Young and Bailey hit singles in the inning to get the Buffs with runners on first and third and only one out. However, Truett starting pitcher Craig Barton, who threw a complete game, escaped the inning with a strikeout and a lineout.
 
Craig then finished the final two innings allowing only one hit while facing the minimum.
 
LEADERS
Bailey led the Buffs as the only hitter with multiple hits, going 2-for-4. Laboy was 1-for-4 with a run and two RBI's. Young (1-for-5), Thomas Miller (1-for-3), Chris Patterson (1-for-2) and Hunter Suggs (1-for-3) also recorded hits for the Buffs.
 
On the mound, Hartley went the first two innings and was relieved by Chandler Daniels and Connor Simpson who went three innings apiece. Hartley and Daniels both struck out three; Simpson struck out two.
 
UP NEXT
Milligan returns home to Anglin Field for a nonconference midweek doubleheader against University of the Cumberlands on Tuesday, March 13, at 3 p.m.