ROME, Ga. – Cade Eidam was 4-for-5 with a run and one RBI while Ryan Causey recorded two hits and three RBIs and Will Lumpkin tossed 4.1 scoreless innings of relief for Oglethorpe in a 7-3 victory over Sewanee in an elimination game in the SAA Baseball Championships here Friday at Advent Health Stadium.
The Stormy Petrels (22-20) scored four runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth to overcome a deficit after Sewanee plated two runs in the fifth to take the lead. Oglethorpe advances to face the winner of Friday’s second game between Trinity and Berry in another elimination contest later Friday night.
The Stormy Petrels chased Sewanee starter Austin Graber from the game with a pair of one-out singles in the seventh. Reliever George Kell hit two batters, forcing in a run, and Causey’s bases-clearing triple gave Oglethorpe a 6-3 advantage.
Oglethorpe starter Micah Knox tossed 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Lumpkin (2-1) worked the final 4.1 scoreless innings, walking one with four strikeouts for the win.
Owen Andress doubled, tripled and drove in two runs and Tyler Pinson added two hits for the Tigers (21-19-1).
Andress plated a run in the second with a double and his triple in the fifth followed by an RBI double from Pinson gave Sewanee (21-19-1) a 3-2 edge. Graber (4-3) worked six-plus innings, allowing one run on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts before running into trouble in the seventh.
Trey Kinnan posted two hits and scored twice and the top four players in the Oglethorpe lineup accounted for eight of the team’s 10 hits with five RBIs and five runs scored. Third baseman Jace Armstrong made two tremendous defensive plays to end the game, reaching into his team’s dugout to catch a pop-up and then diving for a line drive for the final out.
The Stormy Petrels took advantage of a two-out error to plate a run in the first inning to take an early lead.
Kinnan singled to center with one out and Evan Smallwood was hit, but Graber struck out Causey. Brick Conway hit a two-hopper to short but Zach Fortman threw to third, and well off the bag, allowing a run to come across.
The Tigers stranded a pair of runners in the second inning after a leadoff single from Pinson. Max Kilburn’s fly ball down the rightfield line pushed the runner to third and John Bagwell walked with two outs before Sebastian Leinberger struck out to end the threat.
In the third Aidan Petrocco led off with a walk and scored on a two-out double to leftcenter by Andress, with Petrocco sliding around the tag at the plate to even the contest at one.
Causey doubled to rightcenter to start the fourth for Oglethorpe and Conway walked. Both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Armstrong and Causey scored on Aiden Hosford’s line drive to left, putting the Stormy Petrels in front, 2-1.
Sewanee took its first lead of the game in the fifth after Charlie Teel singled with one out and moved to second on Fortman’s groundout. Andress then tripled to deep rightcenter, past a diving Conway, and Pinson followed with a double down the leftfield line, giving the Tigers a 3-2 edge.
Sewanee nearly added a run in the seventh when Petrocco walked, moved to second on Teel’s sac bunt and third on a wild pitch, but Fortman popped out and Eidam made a terrific diving catch in leftcenter to rob Andress of another extra-base hit.
In the bottom of the inning Nick Morgan singled to right and Eidam’s soft single to left chased Graber from the game. Kell hit both Kinnan and Smallwood, forcing in a run. Causey greeted Davis Jones with a bases-clearing double down the leftfield line, giving the Stormy Petrels a 6-3 advantage.
Oglethorpe added an insurance run in the eighth when Ben Chatham walked and pinch-runner Drew Jabaley stole second. He scored on Eidam’s single to center for a 7-3 lead.