ATLANTA, Ga. - The Berry College baseball team took a quick road trip down to Atlanta, GA, to take on the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels in a three-game set. Berry lost the first game 11-1 before responding with a 9-7 win in game two.
Game One: (Berry 1 – Oglethorpe 11)
Nothing came for the Vikings in the top half, and they turned it over to JohnMark Christopher on the mound in the bottom half. Oglethorpe loaded the bases in the first, but Christopher escaped, allowing only one run. The Vikings tied the game up at one in the top of the third with an RBI groundout from Riley Uhls. In the bottom half, a series of hits from the Stormy Petrels gave them a 3-1 lead.
Berry was stifled offensively, and Oglethorpe took advantage of this by continuing to add on insurance runs. The Stormy Petrels added on seven more to take a commanding 10-1 lead. Berry could not climb out of this one and dropped the first game of the doubleheader.
Game Two: (Berry 9 – Oglethorpe 7)
Jackson Halla started game two for Berry, working a clean first inning. The Vikings got on the board first with Daniel Hong coming across home after an Oglethorpe error. Halla threw up a second zero to keep the score at 1-0 with Berry leading. However, an inning later, Oglethorpe put up three runs of their own to take the lead 3-1. Following the three-run inning from Oglethorpe, Berry got one run back with the help of a second error from the Stormy Petrels. Oglethorpe then scored two more before Eric Fountain entered the game, replacing Halla.
Going into the fifth inning, Oglethorpe led Berry 5-2. Ayden Frazier scored the third run for the Vikings after being hit by a pitch to start the inning. Then the Viking offense finally found a big inning in the sixth, where hits from Hong, Garrett Lang, and Uhls contributed to scoring four runs and putting Berry ahead 7-5. Fountain threw up a crucial zero for Berry, keeping the momentum on the Vikings' side as the seventh inning approaches.
Oglethorpe scored one run apiece in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game up at 7-7 going into the ninth inning. Berry loaded the bases with two outs, and Charles Pulaski came off the bench and recorded the biggest hit of the day, scoring two on a two-RBI single into left field. Cam Welsh entered the game for Berry in the ninth, shutting the door on the Stormy Petrels and recording his first save of the season.
Berry will finish the series with Oglethorpe tomorrow, with the game starting at 12 pm.
