February 20, 2007

JACKSON -- John Pacillo's walk-off homerun to straight away center in the bottom of the ninth capped off a 5-for-6 night at the plate and a thrilling 16-15 home win for Millsaps, its fourth-straight at Twenty Field to open the season.

On a rainy evening with nearly 15 mph winds, the Blazers and Majors were caught up in a slugfest that featured a combined 31 runs off 41 hits, with Pacillo and Millsaps getting the two that counted most at the end.

In a game that featured four lead changes, four homeruns, three ties, three five-run innings -- 13 combined runs in the fifth -- 10 different pitchers and eight errors, a baseball fan couldn't have asked for a better finish except for enhanced weather.

With the Majors comfortably ahead 8-2 heading into the top of the fifth after a run in the first, five in the second and two in the third, Belhaven exploded for eight runs off six hits and three errors to take a brief 10-8 lead.

The Blazers sent 13 runners to the plate, forcing Millsaps starting pitcher Tait Hendrix and his relief Quinn Salmon out of the game before Drew Maddox came in with two outs in the inning and closed out the frame after allowing two more runs, both unearned.

Millsaps (5-1, 0-0 SCAC) came firing right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring five runs of its own to jump back on top by a field goal, 13-10.

After a Pacillo single up the middle, Luke Morrow blasted his first homerun of the season over the left centerfield wall to tie the game, followed by a 2 RBI double from Jason Hadley who later scored on a wild pitch.

The Majors lead sat at 15-10 heading into the eighth until a Ricky Owens 2-run homerun over the centerfield wall and a 3-run opposite field homer from Buddy Wyrick over the 20 foot wall in rightfield knotted the game at 15-15.

Millsaps had a scoreless eighth inning and sent in Brent Buffa (1-0, 2.00 ERA) to pitch in the ninth for Maddox.

Buffa gave up a single to David Gilbert to start off the inning and then rebounded to retire Reg Ott, Thomas Royals and Bryan Bennett to close out the Blazer lineup.

The stage was set for a thrilling finish, with Pacillo, Morrow and Derrik Boland coming to the plate with a combined 11-for-13 night, five extra base hits and eight RBIs.

Pacillo stepped in the batter's box and sent the first pitch from Royals (0-2) over the centerfield wall and the rest was history.

The Majors will hit the road for a four-game road swing to Georgia this weekend, facing off with LaGrange College and Piedmont College. Those games will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1240 AM and online at www.espnradio1240.com with host Derrel Palmer.