Oglethorpe Defeats Sewanee 12-7, Sweeps Three-Game Series

The Oglethorpe baseball team defeated the visiting Sewanee Tigers 12-7 Sunday afternoon, completing a three-game sweep of their SCAC counterpart.

The Petrels used an eight-run fourth inning to blow the game open and all but secure the victory. They tallied eight hits in the fourth, an inning which featured a parade of singles. The Petrels used RBI singles from Matthew Cornwell, J.J. Rizzo, Stephen Archer and Joseph Parillo, and a sacrifice fly from Jonathan McWhorter, to tally the runs and give the Petrels an 11-3 lead.

Like the night before, the Petrels then held onto that lead as Sewanee chipped away at it. After Oglethorpe picked up an unearned run in the seventh, the Tigers scored four runs in the eighth to bring the lead back to within five. Though they would get no closer, the man in the on-deck circle represented the potential tying run when the game ended.

The Petrels took a 3-0 lead in the first two innings largely on the shoulders of their basestealing. They stole early and often on Sewanee starter Wilson Nealy. The Petrels stole eight bases on Nealy, all in those first two innings.

Cornwell had three steals, Rizzo and McWhorter had two apiece and Archer picked up his first steal of the year.

Sewanee scored three runs of their own over the next two innings to tie the game, but the Petrels immediately followed with their eight-run fourth.

Sixteen of Oglethorpe's 17 hits on the day were singles. The lone extra-base hit was an Adam Brazenas double in the fourth. By contrast, the Tigers had five of their hits go for extra bases, including two triples.

Mark Hoban picked up the win for the Petrels, improving his record to 3-2 on the year. He delivered a solid outing over six innings of work. He gave up 10 hits, but only three runs, and did not issue a walk.

The win improved the Petrels to 16-13 on the year. After getting swept in their SCAC opening series with Rhodes, Oglethorpe has now won five of their last six conference games and has improved to 5-4 in SCAC play. That record puts them in third place in the East Division. However, first-place Birmingham-Southern is still on probation after downgrading from Division I, and is ineligible to participate in the conference championship. This effectively puts the Petrels in second place.

The top three teams from each division (except for Birmingham-Southern) will advance to the SCAC Championship Tournament. If the Petrels can take two-of-three at Centre next weekend, they will clinch a spot in that tournament.

First, they will take on two in-state, out-of-conference rivals during the middle of this week. They will host Piedmont at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and will then go across town to Emory for a 3 p.m. game on Wednesday.