April 27, 2007

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Entering as the No. 3 seed and the only team to earn a series split with 15th-ranked Millsaps this season, Austin College showed why they belong in the SCAC Tournament on Friday afternoon, sending the Majors to their worst loss of the year in a 14-5 win while snapping a season-long 10-game winning streak.

Millsaps, who posed as the home team in its opener, dropped four runs on the Kangaroos in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead after Austin plated the first run of the game earlier in the frame.

Luke Morrow kick started the offensive attack, singling up the middle to start off the inning before a pair of RBI-singles from Derrik Boland and Hunter Owen and an RBI-double from Justin Carter pushed the lead out to three runs.

Junior left-hander Travis Bogue received the starting nod for the Majors on the mound, surrendering only one run off three hits through the first three frames before things went sour. The 'Roos caught fire and exploded for five runs off five hits in the fourth, capped off by a three-RBI double from second baseman Matt Finke that put Austin on top for good.

The Majors shuffled five pitchers over the final six frames and just couldn't find the answer to the 'Roos offensive outburst, surrendering at least one run in each of the remaining six innings while getting outscored 13-1.

The top five hitters did a majority of the damage, batting a combined 11-for-22 with nine of the 'Roos 13 RBIs, including Finke who went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, two doubles and two singles.

After allowing four runs off six hits in the third inning to fall behind 4-1, starting pitcher Will Chermak and late reliever Justin Frost shut the Majors lineup down -- a task that is tough to manage with the nation's second highest scoring team at 10.6 runs per game.

Chermak surrendered just five hits over his final 4 1/3 in 7 1/3 innings of work to improve to 6-3 on the year while Frost scattered just one hit over the final 1 2/3 in relief as the two weathered a combined eight walks against only five strikeouts.

The 14 runs off 15 hits are both the second most allowed by Millsaps this season, as the Majors fall to 3-9 when being out-hit by their opponent and 2-8 when trailing after four.

Despite the outcome, four Majors recorded multi-hit games with Nick Crawford (2-for-3), Carter (2-for-5), Owen (3-for-3) and Boland (2-for-3) each turning in solid outings.

Now on the brink of elimination, the Majors will face tournament-host Southwestern at noon on Saturday after the No. 4 seeded Pirates lost 8-6 to No. 1 seed Rhodes College in Friday's opening round game.