Petrels Drop Second Game of SCAC Tourney to Rhodes, Eliminated from Tournament

The Oglethorpe baseball team dropped their second game of the SCAC Tournament on Friday, losing to Rhodes 9-4. The loss eliminates the Petrels from the tournament and ends their season.

The Petrels gave up all nine runs over the course of two innings. The Lynx scored five runs in the third and four in the eighth.

Oglethorpe took a 1-0 lead in the first without the benefit of a hit. Starting pitcher Matthew Cornwell led off the game with a walk. He then stole second, was balked to third, and scored on a J.J. Rizzo RBI groundout. The Petrels got two more men on base, but two strikeouts ended the inning

After Rhodes took the 5-1 lead, nobody scored again until the seventh. Center fielder Jeff Pope led the inning off with a triple, and was promptly driven home with a Cornwell infield single. Rizzo followed with a single, and then left fielder Stephen Archer drove Cornwell in with a sacrifice fly. The Petrels advanced the potential tying runs to second and third with two outs on a Nick Manai hit. The next batter was catcher Joseph Parillo, and he hit a screaming line drive to right field that would have tied the game, but the Rhodes right fielder was just able to get to the ball as he reached up over his head, and that ended the inning.

Then in the eighth, Rhodes scored four runs to put the game out of reach for the Petrels.

The Petrels left 10 men on base in the game to Rhodes' two men.

The Petrels end their season with a 19-23 record, which includes a 7-8 conference record.