Jeff Birchfield
Johnson City Press Sports Writer

The old saying is you can’t keep a good man down. Milligan’s baseball team proved Saturday afternoon at Anglin Field that you can’t keep a good team down, either.

The Buffaloes (24-21, 11-5) recovered from a 4-2 loss to the University of Virginia at Wise in the first game of an Appalachian Athletic Conference double-header to rout the Cavaliers 12-2 in the second game.

“We were pretty disappointed after the first game,” said Milligan head coach Nathan Meade. “There were four innings in a row where we had runners in scoring position and couldn’t muster up anything. That says a lot about the guys to turn around and come back and play the way we were capable of playing.”

The Buffaloes had 13 hits against the Cavaliers (25-12-1, 10-6) in the second game. Justin Sauceman led the way by going 3-for-3 with two doubles. He scored four runs in the game, which was halted after five innings due to the mercy rule.

Nathan Fritz gave up three hits and two runs (one earned) to pick up the win and improve to 7-3.

“It’s been a fun season with the good team we’ve got here,” said Fritz. “It’s good to get the run support. When the bats are swinging, it’s easy to pitch. You can relax and fill up the (strike) zone. Our hitters pounded out 13 hits. You can’t ask for anything more.”

Milligan’s head coach had plenty of good words to say about the junior right-hander setting the tone of the game.

“Fritz has been unbelievable all year,” said Meade. “You go out and score four runs and you feel like you’re going to win the ballgame. You roll the ball out with Fritz and you can just sit back and let him do his thing. That’s a great feeling as a coach.”

Trailing 1-0 at the end of one inning, Milligan scored two runs off a throwing error for a 2-1 lead. They didn’t need help the rest of the way. The Buffaloes scored two runs off a RBI single by Spencer Street in the third inning and then exploded for six runs in fourth inning.

Although Wise’s Joyce LaBoy scored Matt Hall off a RBI double in the top of the fifth, it couldn’t hold back the Milligan onslaught. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, pinch hitters Andy Chrisman and Chris Gordon drove in Sauceman and Ben Huff on consecutive at-bats for the game’s early ending

David Jones (7-3), who had allowed just nine earned runs all season for Wise, gave up six in this game for the loss.

It was a different story in the first game with Cavalier starter Brad Robbins and relievers Brock Funk and Matt Sinnes scattering seven hits over nine innings. Robbins evened his record at 3-3 after giving up only one run in 5 1/3 innings. He aided his cause by going 2-for-4 at the plate. John Bigley added a 2-for-4 effort in the Cavalier victory, in which Sinnes was credited with his first save of the season.

On the other side, Brett Seybert (5-4) suffered the defeat after allowing nine hits and four runs in 8 1/3 innings.

Former Science Hill standout Todd Sangid provided Milligan’s first run of the day with a RBI single, which plated Sauceman in the sixth inning. Baker DeCamp scored off a wild pitch in the seventh inning for the Buffs’ other run in the opening-game loss.

Ricky Morgan was a bright spot for the Buffs throughout the day. The freshman shortstop went 2-for-4 in game one before hitting 1-for-2 with a RBI in the nightcap.

“Coach has really been working with me on hitting the ball hard to right field,” Morgan said. “I guess that’s paid off for me.”

He started the Buffs’ big surge in the 6-run fourth inning of game two by reaching base on a walk. The former Happy Valley star said the team was more selective in the second contest in seeing which pitch was being thrown.

“They started most of us off with curveballs, so you try to wait and get that fastball,” said Morgan. “You don’t want to hit a curveball on the first pitch. We were just trying to be selective as a team.”