KINGSPORT, Tenn. – The Milligan University baseball team, now ranked No. 11 in the NAIA and holding the top seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament, matched up with the No. 6-seeded Bryan College Lions at Hunter Wright Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The upset-minded Lions ended up shutting down the Buffaloes' batting order, putting the Buffs in the losers' bracket with a 2-1 loss on their ledger.
Early in the game, the Buffs had
Gaven Jones reach third base, but he ended up trying to steal home plate with two outs in the bottom of the first. He was thrown out to start the game, creating a momentum shift early in the contest in Bryan's favor.
It took until the top of the third for a run to be scored in the contest, as a two-out RBI double from the Lions gave them a slim 1-0 advantage after two-and-a-half.
The Buffs, after struggling for just a single hit through six innings, finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh.
Braxton Baird led off with a single and was followed by an infield single from Jones to put two on with no outs.
Cade Kalehuawehe then stepped up to the plate and smashed a single into center to score Baird. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes, Jones was thrown out trying to go first to third. That squashed the MU momentum and kept the score at 1-1 after seven full frames.
After making a pitching change, the Buffaloes gave up a leadoff double in the top of the ninth inning to the Lions, as that runner eventually came around to score on a one-out single into the outfield. That hit made it a 2-1 game with just one half-inning remaining in the tilt.
The Buffaloes got a two-out hit from Kalehuawehe in the bottom of the ninth, but
Brody Melton then flied out to the right field warning track to end the game, as the Buffaloes now find themselves in a win-or-go-home game on Thursday morning against Reinhardt after the 2-1 loss.
A total of seven hits ended up being recorded by Milligan, with Baird and Kalehuawehe making up four of those knocks. Jones,
Reagan Smith and
Luis Quintero all had one. The team had only one strikeout on the day, but their contact quality was not enough to find holes and gaps, especially in the early innings.
The loss was not due to a lack of impressive pitching by the Buffs, as
Canyon Geren (8 IP, ER, 3 H, 12 K, 2 BB) had his highest strikeout output of his career in a single game, punching out a dozen Bryan batters. He was relieved by
Sai Vickers, who allowed the game-winning run in the ninth frame on two hits.
Thursday morning's contest for Milligan (38-12, 22-5 AAC) will come against the No. 7-seeded Reinhardt University (Ga.) Eagles, a team that the Buffaloes took two-out-of-three games from in the regular season. A loss for either side will eliminate them from the AAC Tournament. First pitch is set for 9 a.m. at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport.
Â
