The Oglethorpe baseball team dropped the rubber game of their three-game home series with Hendrix Sunday afternoon, losing 9-1 on Anderson Field.

The Petrels found themselves behind early in this one, as Hendrix took a 3-0 first-inning lead on a massive three-run home run by Hendrix first basman Thomas Weber.

Oglethorpe got one back in the second, when first baseman Cory Leff, who was honored for Senior Day before the game, bombed a long solo home run off of Dorough Field House beyond left field, cutting the Warriors lead to 3-1.

However, that was the only run the Petrels would get on the day. Hendrix scored three, including two unearned runs, in the third to take a 6-1 lead, and they pretty much cruised from there. They scored additional single runs in the sixth, eighth and ninth innnings.

Meanwhile, the Petrels picked up eight hits, but never were able to string them together. They left runners at third base in the first and second innings, and left a total of nine men on base over the course of the game.

Left-hander Joey McAlpin suffered the loss in his first conference start of the year. He allowed four earned runs (six total) on seven hits over three innings. He didn't walk anyone, but only struck out two Warrior hitters. The loss drops him to 1-4 on the season.

At the plate, Leff both scored and drove in the only Oglethorpe run of the game with his solo home run. He went 1-for-4 on the day. Second baseman Keith Dearden went 2-for-3 with a walk, while pinch-hitter Frankie Vascimini singled in his only at-bat of the game for the first hit of his career.

Before the game, the team honored Leff, catcher Jeff Brothers, right fielder Nick Manai and starting pitcher Emmett Goodman for their careers at Oglethorpe University as part of Senior Day.

The loss drops the squad to 13-25 on the season, and they end their SAA campaign with a 7-14 record in conference play. That leaves them in a sixth place tie with Centre, who defeated Sewanee today, but the Petrels win the tiebreaker based on their three-game sweep of the Colonels at Anderson Field earlier this month. The Petrels take the No. 6 seed into their four-team SAA Tournament pod, and they will play the No. 4 seed in the first round next weekend, on the home field of the No. 1 seed.

First, the Petrels complete their regular-season schedule with a home doubleheader against non-conference, in-state rival LaGrange Tuesday evening. Game 1 gets underway at 5 p.m., and Game 2 gets started 30 minutes after the completion of Game 1. Both games will be seven innings in length.