Baseball
 

April 26, 2009

Hendrix Beats Trinity to Win First SCAC Title

Jackson, Mississippi - The Hendrix College Warriors beat the defending champion Tigers 11-1 Sunday for the SCAC Baseball Championship at Smith-Wills Stadium, in a seven-inning run-rule game.

Hendrix (22-21), seeded third in the West Division, had previously eliminated DePauw (No. 1 East) and host Millsaps (No. 1 West) at the six-team, double-elimination event. The Warriors, who beat the Tigers 9-7 on Saturday, received the SCAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Hendrix won the regular-season series 3-2 with the Tigers.

Trinity (24-21), No. 2 in the West, captured the 2008 title with a victory over Millsaps. The Tigers played in their 14^th SCAC title game in 18 years. Trinity beat Rhodes (No. 2 East) 11-3 and defeated Centre (No. 3 East) on two occasions at the tournament, by run-rule scores of 14-4 and 16-0.

Hendrix, which won its first SCAC baseball championship, took an 8-0 lead with four runs in each of the third and fourth innings. The Tigers’ run came in the fifth inning, on a solo homer by sophomore center fielder Dylan Early, his third round-tripper of the season. Early batted 1-3 with an RBI, and scored one run.

The Tigers, limited to three hits, also had singles from senior catcher Steven Ramos (1-2) and sophomore designated hitter Kyle Felix (1-3).

Senior left-hander Evan Bronson was the starting pitcher, who hurled for three innings. Bronson (5-4), the first of four pitchers, allowed four runs, eight hits, no walks and struck out two batters.