BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Birmingham-Southern baseball team won both games in the doubleheader against Centre College on Saturday. The Panthers hot hitting secured the SAA regular season title to give them the first overall seed in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament.
Game one
After a scoreless first inning,
Jack Fleming got things started for the Panthers with a solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning. The next two innings were scoreless until Centre tied the game in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single. The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth inning where BSC got hot.
Eli Steadman broke the tie with an RBI single and then
Will Lantis added another run for the Panthers to take a two run lead. With the bases loaded,
Ian Hancock crushed a grand slam to right field to give the Panthers a big 7-1 lead. The game remained scoreless for the final three innings, and the Panthers won game one of the series 7-1.
Joey White had a great day on the mound with seven innings pitched, three hits, and only one run given up.
Connor Adams came in and relief and also was dominant with two innings pitched, one hit, and no runs given up.
Game two
In the bottom of the first,
Ian Hancock hit a three-run homer to open the flood gates for the Panthers, and they never looked back.
Luke DePiero then hit a three-run homer for BSC, and
Andrew Dutton added another run on an RBI double to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead after one inning. The second inning was even better with eight runs scored headlined by
Jackson Webster,
Luke DePiero, and
Jakob Zito doubles to stretch the lead to 15-0. In the top of the third inning, Centre got on the board with a sac fly to make the score 15-1. In the bottom of the same inning, BSC scored five more runs headlined by an
Eli Steadman homerun to stretch the lead to 20-1. Centre added four runs in the top of the sixth and two in the top of the seventh, but it ultimately was not enough as the Panthers clinched the series win by winning game two 20-7.
Records
Birmingham-Southern 31-4 (14-3 SAA), Centre 23-11, (11-6 SAA)
Up next
The Panthers will host Centre College at Striplin field for game three and Senior Day on Sunday, Apr. 16 at 12 p.m.