KINGSPORT, Tenn. – The Milligan University baseball team, in their second Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament game, was tasked with upending the top-seeded Reinhardt University Eagles, who are ranked at No. 5 in the final NAIA Coaches' Top 25. Milligan did exactly that, and were the better team throughout the contest, nailing down a 5-3 triumph to remain in the winners' bracket.
It was an idle contest until the bottom of the fourth, when Reinhardt scored first on a sacrifice fly, taking a 1-0 lead.
Milligan immediately responded with a four-run top of the fifth inning, as Brody Melton began the Buffaloes' scoring with a three-run double to left field. His knock brought home Cade Kalehuawehe, Braxton Baird and Trey Massengill. Then, a run-scoring single to right by Angel Lobo scored Melton to give MU a 4-1 edge.
Reinhardt earned one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth on an infield single, making it a 4-2 contest after five full frames.
The Buffs countered with a tally of their own in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Baird to chase in the pinch runner Skyler Saunders. With that run, Milligan led 5-2 through five-and-a-half.
The score would remain that way until the bottom of the ninth, when Reinhardt threatened but were held to just a single run on a sac fly, as the Buffs hung on to a 5-3 upset triumph over the Eagles.
Offensively, Melton, Baird and Tank Hansen each had two hits. Melton and Hansen each had two doubles in the victory. All but one hitter in the starting lineup had at least one hit, as the squad racked up 11 in the battle.
Jacob Bishop twirled a masterful 7.1 innings of two-run ball on the bump, earning his eighth win of the campaign. He had just one strikeout, but induced weak contact with regularity. Austin Maxey closed the door late, tossing 1.2 innings to earn the save, his fifth this year. He allowed an unearned run without giving up a hit.
Milligan's win earns them a spot in Game 15 tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. against the winner of the elimination game between No. 7 seed Columbia International and No. 1 seed Reinhardt at 9 a.m. Friday morning.
