JACKSON, Miss. – The Belhaven baseball outlasted the Millsaps Majors on Wednesday evening, knocking off their crosstown rivals 9-8 in 11 innings at Smith-Wills Stadium. With the win, the Blazers won the 2015 Cowboy Maloney Series trophy for the third straight season and seventh time overall.
"It's always nice to win in extra innings, but Maloney games have a special ring to them," Head Coach
Hill Denson said. "Millsaps deserves a ton of credit for hanging around as long as they did, but I'm proud of our guys for finding a way to win."
The Blazers started the scoring with three runs in the first inning before Millsaps got one back in the top of the third. Belhaven stormed right back in the fourth with two more runs, taking a 5-1 lead over a Majors offense that appeared to be at a standstill.
Millsaps broke through in a big way just before the seventh-inning stretch, plating five runs to take their first lead of the ballgame. Belhaven got a run back in the eighth, only to see Millsaps plate two more in the top of the ninth.
Daniel Amirrati drew a bases loaded walk in the home half, allowing the tying run to cross the plate. The Blazers stranded three runners, sending the game to extra innings in fitting Maloney fashion.
After a controversial play in the 11th that saw
Hunter Harsh slide under a tag,
Reagan Rutledge drew another bases loaded walk to plate the winning run. The victory gave the Blazers a sweep of the 2015 Maloney Series, outscoring opponents by a total of just three runs.
Individually,
Trey Eschberger gave the Blazers their biggest night at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort and a pair of runs batted in. Rutledge and DeSilva each drove in a couple, while four Belhaven hitters contributed a multi-hit ballgame.
Tanner Moulder pitched four innings on the hill for the home nine without allowing a hit and recording four strikeouts along the way. The Blazers ultimately used nine arms Wednesday night, with only two of them surrendering an earned run.
The win (2-0) went to
Chase Birch, who overcame two hits in the top of the 11th inning to pick up his second collegiate victory. The Blazers have now won 11 of their last 12 non-conference games and stand at 18-11 at home this season.
For Millsaps, it was left hander Jacob Mardick taking the loss, allowing a run over just 0.2 of the 11th inning. Like their Belhaven counterparts, the Majors used nine arms but were unable to overcome their second loss in as many games.
Leftfielder Andy Page highlighted the effort for the visiting Majors, going 3-for-4 from the final spot in the Millsaps batting order. Keith Schumaker and Annon Etheridge each drove in a pair of runs, as the Majors tallied nine hits on the four-hour game.
Belhaven is set to return to action this weekend, when they host the NAIA's top-seeded Faulkner Eagles in a Southern States Athletic Conference series. First pitch from Smith-Wills is set for Friday at 6:00 pm.
