ATLANTA – Parker Hildebrecht drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning of game one before Rhodes spoiled what would have been a doubleheader sweep with a late run in game two. Oglethorpe won 13-12 then lost 6-5 in the Southern Athletic Association opener.
The two teams will finish the series Sunday in a rubber game at 1 p.m.
Hildebrecht's late single lifts Petrels, 13-12
Rhodes jumped ahead 4-0 before Oglethorpe recorded its first base runner, but the Petrels had plenty of bases runners in what turned into one of the most exciting finishes of the season. The score was knotted at 11-11 with runners on second and third and two out when Hildebrecht coolly stepped up to drive in both, singling to left field on a ball that went just over the reach of Lynx third baseman Gunnar Vachris.
Mason Pearcy scored, then Carson Weir scored, and that second run proved to be key as Rhodes rallied in the ninth. An error saw two men on base with only one out, and a one-out single then made it a one-run game and put the tying run in scoring position. Pearcy came up with a great defensive play on the next at-bat on what could have been a single up the middle. Instead, it was an out at second and kept the tying run at third.
Noah Cole coaxed a fly ball to end the game in the next at-bat.
The save was Cole's fourth of the season while Andrew Noack, who pitched two innings of relief, picked up the win to improve to 3-0.
Four Petrels produced multiple hits, including Carter Guarino who went 2-for-5 a walk, a run and three RBI's. Guarino had a two-out, two-RBI single to center field in the fifth inning that made it 8-5. Carson Weir and Andrew Noack both went 2-for-3, Weir scoring three times and driving in two.
Pearcy homers to tie game two, but Petrels fall 6-5
Pearcy hit his first home run of the season to tie the game 4-4 in the fourth inning of game two. It looked to give the Stormy Petrels some momentum heading into the late innings, but the game would be decided on a wild pitch in the seventh that scored Rhodes' Dante Messina.
The Lynx' late run also spoiled a great comeback attempt for the Petrels, who trailed 5-2 midway through the second inning. A Noack sacrifice fly, then a Guarino groundout cut that deficit to one in the second, then Pearcy's solo dinger to left field evened things up two innings later.
Will Arnold and Pearcy were the only two multihit Petrels in game two, both going 2-for-3. Weir, game two's starting pitcher for the Petrels, went the first four innings before handing things over to Will Marconi. Marconi ended up tagged with the loss despite allowing only one hit and no walks over three innings. The run that scored in the seventh was his only run and it was unearned.
Up next
Oglethorpe and Rhodes finish the series with the deciding finale Sunday at 1 p.m. After that, the Petrels hit the road for Piedmont midweek and Berry in a three-game SAA weekend series next Saturday-Sunday.
