Trinity rallies from three down in the ninth to win SCAC Championship

Trailing 5-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Trinity University baseball team scored four times to rally and defeat Millsaps College 6-5 in the championship game of the 2008 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament played at Gary Wright Field in Danville, Ky.

The two teams, which met in the first game of the tournament, played scoreless baseball until the fourth inning. Tait Hendrix singled to start the inning and then Hunter Owen hit his third home run of the day, a two-run shot, to give Millsaps a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers answered in the bottom half of the inning when Steven Ramos hit a two-run double to centerfield to tie the game at two apiece.

The Majors went back in front in the fifth when Derrik Boland drove in Hunter Abrams to give Millsaps a 3-2 lead.

The score remained that way until the eighth when Will Hawkins homered to left center field to push the lead to 4-2. Abrams then added a solo home run in the ninth inning giving the Majors a 5-2 advantage in the final frame.

Trinity opened the bottom of the ninth with a single by Ramos and a walk to pinch hitter Dominick Robusto. Abrams was then brought into pitch relieving Travis Bogue who came in an inning earlier in relief of starter Drew Maddox. A fielder's choice gave the Tigers runners at first and third with one out. Logan Spiers then pinch hit and grounded out to third with Ramos scoring on the play to cut the lead to 5-3.

Lead-off hitter Kevin Jackson then singled to put runners at first and third again. A single by Dylan Early plated another run and the score was 5-4 with runners on first and second and two outs. Stosh Hoover then hit a 2-2 pitch to right center to score two runs, including the winning-run scoring on a close play at the plate to give Trinity the conference championship.

John Prato Matthews earns the win in relief for the Tigers. Prato Matthews threw the 0.2 of an inning while not allowing a runner to reach base to improve to 3-1. Abrams suffered the loss allowing two runs on three hits in 0.2 of an inning. He falls to 1-1.

Early, Hoover and Ramos all had two hits apiece for Trinity. Early scored two runs and drove in another. Hoover drove in the final two runs of the game and Ramos also drove in two runs and scored another. Hendrix and Abrams also collected two hits for Millsaps with Abrams scoring twice and driving in one.

The Majors finished the season with a 29-18 overall record, while Trinity improves to 32-13 and will advance to the 2008 NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament.