ATLANTA – Sam Mills and Carson Weir both hit three-run homers and the Oglethorpe baseball team thwarted another late scare to defeat Rhodes 13-12 and win the Southern Athletic Association opening series Sunday afternoon in the three-game finale at Hermance Stadium.

Like games one and two that took place Saturday, game three of the series featured a lot of scoring and a lot of back and forth.

Oglethorpe looked to break the game wide open with a seven-run fourth, when Weir capped the inning with a three-run bomb to right field. It gave the Stormy Petrels an 11-3 lead, although Rhodes would battle back with a five-run sixth bookended by two runs in both the fifth and seventh.

Harrison Hall and Weir were able to score on an error in the sixth to keep the Petrel lead, which was 13-12 midway through the seventh. Mills connected with Mason Pearcy for a great play to throw out a would-be base stealer to end the eighth, thwarting a mini scare in that inning. Then, the Petrels doubled off a man on second base in the ninth to thwart a scare in the final inning.

Mills finished the day 4-for-5 with five RBI's and two runs. Three of those RBI's and one of those runs came on a three-run blast off Dorough Field House in left field in the third inning. In fact, that homer gave the Petrels a 4-2 lead, and they led the rest of the way.

Starting pitcher Harry Paul was in line for the win but went only 4.2 innings, striking out five and walking only one. Jake Hill, Zachary Cox, Grant Guinther and Noah Cole all worked in Paul's relief, with Guinther getting the win and Cole a two-inning save. Guinther improved to 2-0 while Cole collected his SAA-leading fifth save.

Other Petrels with multiple hits included Jonathan Cruz who went 2-for-5 and Rajan Sampat who went 2-for-4. Carter Guarino scored three times and collected two RBI's.

The Petrels next face Piedmont in a midweek road game before returning to SAA play at Berry over next weekend.