MOBILE, Ala. – In the second game of a 3-game weekend series with the University of Mobile Rams on Saturday, the Spring Hill College (SHC) Badgers lost 7-6 in their first game at Historic Stan Galle Field of the 2021 season, but rebounded to take a 9-4 win on Sunday at Hank Aaron Stadium.
The Badger bats were on early as they roughed up Mobile starting pitcher Tucker Musgrove. SHC hitters pounded 8 hits and drove in 5 runs in the first 5 innings off of the Rams starting pitcher.
After 5 innings of play, and holding a 5-0 lead, the wheels fell off for the home team. Starting pitcher
AJ Fell, who struck out 11 of the first 17 Mobile hitters he faced, began to tire out. Relief pitcher
Colin Millar came in to put out the fire, but not before Mobile tied the game up at 5 runs apiece off of 2 Spring Hill errors. The SHC offense responded in the bottom of the 7
th inning to take a 6-5 lead after DH
Grant Akridge drew a 1-out walk, right fielder
Grayson Williams drove a double off the wall to score Akridge.
Mobile responded in the top of the 8
th frame with a 2-out home run by senior outfielder Bailey Bannon, tying the game up at 6. The Rams then continued to take advantage of Badger miscues as they scored the decisive run in the top of the 9
th inning with another unearned run for a 7-6 lead. Mobile relief pitcher Caleb Coffey picked up the win in relief as he slammed the door in the bottom of the 9
th inning. All told, the Badgers pitching staff allowed just 2 earned runs of the 7 runs allowed.
Joseph Guidry paced the SHC bats with 3 hits as 8 of the 9 Badger hitters collected at least one hit in the contest.
In the rubber match of the series on Sunday, Spring Hill got back to their winning ways with a dominant 9-4 victory at Hank Aaron Stadium over the "school up the road." The Badgers were led on the mound by 4.2 scoreless innings by
Taylor Gibson (1-0) as he picked up the win in relief of starting pitcher
Michael Romano.
It was a game to remember for senior catcher
Daniel Seres. He paced the Badgers with two hits - the biggest of which being a Grand Slam home run in the top of the 9
th inning. Seres blasted a line drive shot into the Alabama night over the left field wall off Mobile relief Coffey, who was pitching in his 3
rd game in as many days.
The Badgers (2-1) have now won 4 of the past 5 games over the Rams (5-2) and will look to continue that success this coming weekend with two more games this weekend, beginning back at Mike Jacobs field on Friday at 6 p.m. and followed with a second game at The Hank on Sunday at 3 p.m.
The SHC Sports Information Department thanks Baseball Assistant Coach Andy McCall for contributing this article
