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.