ALBANY, Ga. (May 7, 2022) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) Badgers baseball team advanced to Sunday's 2022 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship Game with an 11-7 win over the Miles College Golden Bears at Albany State University's (ASU) West Campus Stadium on Saturday.
The Badgers (37-13) opened the scoring in the bottom half of the 1
st inning as
Norris McClure brought in a run with a sacrifice fly to right field and
Luke Sweeney followed it up with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Miles responded with a run in the top of the 2
nd inning and a 2-run home run out of left-center in 3
rd inning by catcher Jacob Bisharat.
The Golden Bears (25-22) led 5-2 in the bottom of the 4
th inning when
Grayson Williams sent a 2-out line drive over the left-center field fence for a 2-run home run and pitcher
Micah Morgan followed by crushing a solo bomb over the right field scoreboard to tie the game at 5-5.
Morgan's homer gave him 16 on the year – just one shy of the SHC single season mark of 17 set by Billy Bonner in 2002. He later doubled in the go-ahead run in the 6
th inning with a shot off the right field wall. McClure tripled down the right field line to bring in Morgan and would later score off a sacrifice fly to left by Sweeny, staking SHC to an 8-5 advantage.
The 7
th inning was another big frame for the Badgers as a Williams single plated
Gage Ragona. Williams then trotted home as part of a 2-run home run by McClure to put SHC up 11-5.
Spring Hill racked up 16 hits with five walks and five strikeouts versus three Miles pitchers. Williams enjoyed a 4-for-4 day with three RBI while Sweeney and Ragona each had three hits. McClure was 2-for-4 with four RBI and Morgan finished his day with a double, home run, and two RBI
Williams scored four runs in the contest to bring his career total to 187 runs scored, drawing him to within three runs of the SHC career scoring record of 190 runs currently held by Ryan Hall (2006-2010).
Jackson Short (7-0) picked up the win in 5.0 innings of relief of Morgan with four hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. Morgan went 4.0 innings with five hits, five walks and five strikeouts.
The Badgers now await the winner of the Miles College versus Albany State contest (Sunday, 11 a.m. east) for the Championship match at 3 p.m. (east) Sunday at West Campus Stadium. The final "if necessary" game is scheduled for Monday at a time to be determined.