Buffs drop first game at AAC tournament
All-Conference selections Brandon Marello and Anthony Guzman played big parts in a near comeback, but the Milligan University baseball team lost to Columbia International 5-3 Wednesday morning in the opening round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CIU
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
|
Milligan
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (May 5, 2021) – All-Conference selections Brandon Marello and Anthony Guzman played big parts in a near comeback, but the Milligan University baseball team lost to Columbia International 5-3 Wednesday morning in the opening round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament.
Marello struck out seven in six and two-thirds innings of work on the mound while adding a seventh-inning double and run that looked to get Milligan back in the game.
Milligan trailed 4-2 at that time, and Marello came home on a Guzman single down the left-field line. It made it 4-3, but the Buffaloes would go scoreless the rest of the way.
Guzman, who went 2-for-4, represented one of Milligan's other runs, singling and scoring in the fourth inning of a 2-0 ballgame. Milligan managed to tie the game on a Casey Haire groundout later that inning until CIU retook the lead with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Brian Baxa came in for relief in the seventh and went the last two and one-third innings with two strikeouts, one walk, one hit and one run.
The loss moved Milligan to the elimination bracket and will see the Buffs face either No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan or the winner of Truett McConnell and Bluefield. That game is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday night back here at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport. Milligan's next game is set for Thursday at 12 p.m. in the second game of the day.