Buffs Baseball Topples No. 18 Johnson in Midweek Battle on Anglin Field

MILLIGAN, Tenn. – Anglin Field, on the campus of Milligan University, played host to a midweek baseball matchup between the Milligan Buffaloes and the No. 18-ranked Johnson University Royals. The two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) foes did not play conference tilts this season, but finished off their two-game season series on Tuesday afternoon. After dropping the road matchup 6-5 in extra innings in Knoxville earlier this year, the Buffs exacted their revenge with a 7-5 victory over the Royals.

After facing the minimum in the top of the first, Milligan nabbed their first run of the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Brody Melton, as he smacked a line drive up the middle off the body of the pitcher, scoring Braxton Baird from third.

The 1-0 Buffaloes lead would remain until the top of the fifth, when MU gifted Johnson a run on a wild pitch with two outs, tying the score 1-1 for a short time.

In the following half-inning, Tank Hansen hammered an RBI double to right-center field, scoring Melton. That gave Milligan a 2-1 lead, before Angel Lobo drilled an RBI triple to right center, chasing home Hansen. At that point, the Buffs were up 3-1.

Johnson erased the deficit in the very next frame, scoring twice in the top of the sixth. An RBI single and a run-scoring two-base hit knotted the tally at 3-3.

The Royals then grabbed their first lead in the top of the seventh on a double steal with runners at the corners, 4-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Milligan leaned on a pinch-hit RBI sacrifice bunt by Trey Massengill, as well as an RBI single by Jack Sutton. Those two huge at-bats brought home a pair of runs to give the Buffaloes back a one-run lead at 5-4.

Johnson immediately scored a run in the top of the eighth on a solo homer to left, making it a tie game at 5-5, yet again.

This time around, the Buffs' response was definitive, as they grabbed two more runs on a Hansen RBI single and a Lobo run-scoring single. In that bottom of the eighth, Ty Yurkovich and Melton scored to give Milligan a 7-5 edge.

The squad would then snuff out a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the top of the ninth, grabbing an impressive 7-5 win over a ranked opponent on the Buffs' home turf.

Melton (3-for-5, RBI, 2 R) and Lobo (3-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI) led the way for the Buffaloes, accounting for six of the team's 11 hits. Hansen also had a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Baird was on base three times in four trips to the plate with a double and two walks, while scoring one time.

It was a great start from Wesley Babcock on the hill, as he got through five innings with just a single run allowed on a wild pitch and four hits surrendered. Cainan Meyers was able to get a strikeout to begin his outing, but then allowed the next two batters to reach, resulting in a pitching change. Jacob Poe would allow both inherited runners to score, as well as one additional tally over 1.2 frames. Finally, Austin Maxey earned the win to move to 4-1 on the season by pitching two innings and allowing just one run on three hits with a trio of punchouts.

Now, the Buffs will head to Columbia, S.C. for a three-game AAC series against the Columbia International University Rams, with game one of the weekend getting under way at 5 p.m. on Friday evening, Apr. 11.