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Buffs hold off Truett’s rally in finale

After splitting a doubleheader Thursday, the Milligan University baseball team survived a late scare Saturday to win its Appalachian Athletic Conference series opener over Truett McConnell. Milligan won games one and three of the series, 19-13 and 10-8, sandwiching a 10-2 loss in game two of the series.

Buffs hold off Truett’s rally in finale
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February 27, 2021

CLEVELAND, Ga. (Feb. 27, 2021) – After splitting a doubleheader Thursday, the Milligan University baseball team survived a late scare Saturday to win its Appalachian Athletic Conference series opener over Truett McConnell. Milligan won games one and three of the series, 19-13 and 10-8, sandwiching a 10-2 loss in game two of the series.

Buffs win series with rubber-game victory

Milligan (9-4) led 10-3 in the bottom of the ninth before surrendering five runs in the final frame and watching the tying run reach base with two out. Garrett Bowman came in for the final out, throwing four pitches and punching out the final Bear looking.

The game featured four run-scoring innings for the Buffs, including a pair of big innings in the fifth and ninth. A Chancery Hall single and Justin Greene double, followed by a Casey Haire two-run single, helped the Buffs score four runs in the fifth and go into the lead for good.

Hall then tripled and scored in the ninth before Kirby Smith singled home Garrett Goldberg to round out Milligan's scoring.

Braden Spano led the Buffs with a three-hit effort. Brandon Marello earned the win with a solid outing of eight innings, only four hits, three earned runs and one walk while striking out five.

Thursday's doubleheader all about scoring

It was all offense in the teams' series-opening doubleheader Thursday. Milligan and Truett McConnell combined for 44 runs in two games, Milligan winning the first 19-13 and Truett winning the second 10-2.

Milligan scored seven runs in back-to-back frames in the first game. With the score 8-3 in favor of the Bears through three innings, Smith homered to lead off the fourth and set the tone for a 14-run pair of innings for the Buffs. Marello, Spano and Greene all had RBI singles in the fourth, then Hall, Haire, Ben Grable and Marello all had RBI singles in the fifth.

Smith's homer was the only extra-base hit across Milligan's furious two-inning rally.

Marello finished the first game with a lot of fours. He went 4-for-4 with four runs and four RBI's. Spano went 3-for-5, and four other Buffs had multiple hits.

Despite the offensive outburst in game one, Milligan kept relatively quiet in game two. Anthony Guzman provided the only multihit game with a 2-for-4 effort, and he scored one of Milligan's two runs after doubling then scoring on a Spano double in the fourth.

Milligan's other game-two run came in the sixth on a Greene two-out single.

Up next

Milligan stays on the road for a doubleheader at Cumberland Tuesday and a three-game set at Bluefield next Friday-Saturday. The next home game for the Buffs is set for Friday-Saturday, March 12-13, against Kentucky Christian. The three-game series will be played at TVA Credit Union Ballpark in Johnson City.