LAKELAND, Fla. – The Milligan University baseball team faced elimination from the NAIA Opening Round on Tuesday in Lakeland, Fla., as they faced off with the No. 4-seeded Eagles of Faulkner University (Ala.). Both teams were coming off tight losses in their Monday contests, with the Buffs falling by two and the Eagles losing by just one. In what was a chaotic contest of twists and turns, the Buffaloes ultimately emerged victorious by a final of 14-9.
Milligan had a much better start to their day in this contest, scoring twice in the top of the first, as they played the game as the visitors.
Braxton Baird doubled off the left field wall to begin the game and was advanced to third by
Gaven Jones' sacrifice bunt. He then scored via a RBI groundout by
Cade Kalehuawehe to make it 1-0. Then,
Brody Melton left the yard for Milligan's first homer of the Opening Round with a solo bomb to give the Buffs a 2-0 edge.
Milligan would tack one more on in the top of the second, as
Landon Lutterman walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jones to extend the lead to 3-0.
After a scoreless third, the Buffs were back at it in the top of the fourth, scoring a trio of runs. With Baird on base with two outs, Kalehuawehe lifted his seventh homer of the season to straightaway center field to make it a 5-0 game. Then, after the bases became loaded again via a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch, Lutterman worked a RBI walk to put the Buffs up 6-0.
Faulkner finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, as a solo homer to center field pushed the score to 6-1 in favor of MU.
Milligan looked to be running away with the contest in the top of the fifth, when they scored three more tallies to take a 9-1 lead. A wild pitch allowed Jones to score from third base. Then, a single from Melton on a soft chopper to third coupled with an errant throw resulted in Kalehuawehe scoring from second. Later with runners at second and third,
Wyatt Heidle ripped a RBI single into left to score Melton and conclude the scoring in the frame.
A two-run blast to right field by the Eagles cut into the MU lead, as a 9-3 score would sit on the board entering the sixth stanza.
The Eagles kept homering, notching a pair of solo tanks in the bottom of the sixth, which continued to incrementally cut into the deficit as they trailed 9-5 after six full.
With runners at the corners and one out in the bottom of the seventh, FLK continued their lunge for a tie score, as a RBI single made it 9-6 with five unanswered runs having been tallied by the No. 4 seed.
Finally, Milligan ended their run of back-to-back scoreless innings, as a sacrifice fly by Jones with the bases loaded brought home
Reagan Smith from third to make it a 10-6 contest after the top of the eighth.
After holding Faulkner at bay in the bottom of the eighth, MU blasted the game wide open again. With Heidle on third and
Miller Spence at first, Smith uncorked a three-run homer to left field to give Milligan a seven-run lead again at 13-6. Then, Jones came through with a run-scoring single up the middle to plate
Nick Moss from second and give the Buffaloes a commanding 14-6 lead with just the bottom of the ninth remaining.
The Eagles would not go down without a fight, scoring three times via two RBI singles and a run-scoring double, but a looking strikeout with runners at second and third with two outs ended the contest. The Buffs escaped a wild one with a 14-9 win and set the Milligan program's single-season record for wins with their 41
st of the campaign. They will advance to Wednesday's elimination game against the loser on Tuesday afternoon's tilt between No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) and No. 3 British Columbia.
Individually, the Milligan squad racked up 15 hits and were also issued 13 walks. A trio of important hitters recorded three-hit games, including Baird (3-for-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB), Jones (3-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R, SB) and Melton (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SB). In addition to those three, Heidle delivered a multi-hit effort, driving a double and adding a RBI single. Kalehuawehe and Smith each had one big hit in the contest leaving the yard with two-run and three-run homers, respectively.
Nick Iezzi and Moss each went 1-for-3 in the contest, as well.
Milligan called on
Jack McLaury to start on the hill, and he delivered an effective performance. He pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three earned runs (five overall) on six hits while striking out two and walking just two. He earned the win to move to 9-3 on the season.
Kaleb Meredith pitched the following 3.1 innings and allowed four earned tallies on five hits with three walks and a strikeout.
Devin Gutierrez came in during the bottom of the ninth with two outs to slam the door with a three-pitch looking strikeout on his lone batter faced.
The Buffaloes (41-14, 22-5 AAC) continue to add layers to their historic season with the record for wins in a single campaign in Milligan history. Now, it will be a fight to continue to stay alive in the Opening Round, as they are set to face the loser of this evening's winners' bracket matchup between No. 1 Southeastern and No. 3 British Columbia. First pitch is tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
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