JACKSON, Miss. – Don't look now, but the Mississippi University for Women baseball team is on a roll. The Owls won their third-consecutive game by topping host Millsaps College, 11-8, in the finale of the Millsaps Tournament at Twenty Field.
The W went 3-0 at the Millsaps tourney, after starting the season 0-6. In Jackson, MUW also defeated Eureka College (Ill.) and Edgewood College (Wis.), before knocking off the Majors on Sunday, dropping Millsaps to 9-4 on the year.
"I was very proud of the guys today," Owls' first-year head coach
Scott Mularz said. "We faced a very good Millsaps team in some tough conditions and the guys executed everything we asked them to do, in all aspects of the game. We also stayed away from the big inning on defense and we were able to produce a couple big innings of our own, offensively."
And The W's baseball mentor wasn't joking, either. Mularz's young charges had the team's best offensive outing of the season in terms of runs scored (11), at-bats (41), hits (17), stolen bases (4/4), hit by pitch (4), most walks received (6) and fewest strikeouts (2).
The W enjoyed lead changes in the second and third frames, while Millsaps held its only lead of the day after four innings, 4-3. In the top of the fifth, the Owls had a seven-run explosion that effectively salted away the win.
In that fifth frame, The W sent 13 men to the plate and came away with seven earned runs off of a pair of Majors' hurlers. Four of the Owls runs came after there were two out in the inning.
13 of The W's 17 hits came from the top two-thirds of the batting order. Every man in the Nos. 1-6 spots had at least two hits and every player who had a plate appearance for The W came away with a hit on his stat line.
The production by the Owls' first six batters included, at Nos. 1-6 respectively:
Blaize Gann (2-4, run, walk);
Tanner Evans (2-5, 2 runs, walk, RBI);
Joel Estabrook (2-4, run, 2 RBI, walk);
Blake Estabrook (2-4, 3 runs, walk);
Austin Telano (3-5, run, RBI, walk), and;
Bret Linton (2-4, 2 RBI). Gann and
Blake Estabrook each had a double for MUW's only extra-base hits.
Junior right-handed reliever
Tyler Temple capped a memorable weekend, earning his third win in as many games for his team in the Millsaps Tournament. Versus the Majors, Temple went 3.2 innings, allowing three hits and two runs (only one earned). He struck out two Millsaps batters.
In the Owls three games over the weekend, Temple tossed 8.0 innings, gave up just the three hits (all on Sunday), and one earned run. In all, he registered seven "K's" with a 1.13 earned run average.
The W will look to extend its win skein on Tuesday (March 4 p.m. CT) versus Oglethorpe University, played in Hoover, Ala.
