 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Milligan College
SPORTS NEWS RELEASE Buffs cruise in opener By Trey Williams
Simmons pitched a complete game and Milligan sent 15 batters to the plate during a 10-run second en route to a 12-1 first-round win against Union in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament. The Buffs (29-18) meet Brevard today at 9 a.m. at Cardinal Park in a winner’s bracket semifinal. The other winner’s bracket game matches Bluefield and King College, which upset fourth-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan. Milligan manager Danny Clark will pitch Dustin Barrett today. Barrett didn’t face Brevard during the Buffs’ two-game sweep in the regular season. Sim mons (9-1), a senior from Richlands, Va., allowed the first two batters to reach Tuesday, including Seul Santiago’s leadoff double. Santiago eventually scored on Nate Brooks’ two-out single, but Simmons allowed only four hits the rest of the day. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out two. “I was mainly using my slider for an offspeed pitch,” Simmons said. “But when you’ve got that kind of lead it seems like guys get up there trying to hit a 10-run homer. So I was just spotting a lot of fastballs and trying to stay aggressive.” Dave Rusaw, Ben Whittemore and Brad Hitch each had three hits for the Buffs, who finished with 17 overall. Rusaw drove in three runs while Hitch, Nathan Chandler and Scott Shealy had two RBIs apiece. One of Chandler’s came on the game’s lone home run. Both of Shealy’s came on Milligan’s only other extra-base hit, a bases-loaded double that chased Union starter Tim Sanders midway through the 35-minute second. Rusaw followed Shealy’s double with a two-run single. It was Milligan’s eighth hit in as many batters. Union’s top two pitchers weren’t available after working this past weekend against Milligan. “We were swinging the bats well and I thought Union was flat,” Clark said. “I was glad to see Brad Hitch step it up. He’s been struggling a little bit and a couple of his were clutch hits.” Santiago and John Szary finished 2 for 3 for Union, as did junior Jeremy Skidmore, a transfer from East Tennessee State. Science Hill alumnus Will Little got some late work at shortstop and ended the game with consecutive assists. The last one came on a difficult chance with a back-handed short-hop. King’s upset of Tennessee Wesleyan should make the tournament wide open. It was even more surprising when considering that King had to use two games’ worth of pitching on Monday just to get out of the play-in round. “Since I’ve been here King has been the best tournament team,” Simmons said. “They were third behind us and Brevard two years ago and they beat us the first game last year. I don’t know what (manager Craig) Kleinmann does, but they always seem to play well in this tournament.”
###
About Milligan College Milligan College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Northeast Tennessee, nationally recognized for its commitment to excellence in academic, social and spiritual development. The college has consistently been named one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit www.milligan.edu or call 423.461.8719. Return to Sports News Release Page | Return to Milligan College Home Page |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MILLIGAN
COLLEGE — The bottom half of the second inning lasted so long
Tuesday evening that Milligan starting pitcher Matt Simmons had
to go throw some in the bullpen. Not that Simmons was complaining.