Hawkins Becomes 29th SCAC Player to Reach 200 Hits

Hawkins Becomes 29th SCAC Player to Reach 200 Hits

(Portions of this story were taken from the Millsaps College website)

JACKSON, Miss.
- The Millsaps baseball team took game one of the three-game set Friday night, 11-3 from the visiting LaGrange College Panthers. Senior Will Hawkins collected four hits on the night to reach 200 for his career and become just the eighth Major in school history and 29th in SCAC history to accomplish the feat.

The Panthers (16-8) got on the board in the with a two-out-two-run homer to deep left field to take the early two run lead, but the Majors (17-8) didn't waste any time responding. Millsaps got four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good off four hits.

Drew Leonard got things going with a leadoff single to the second baseman followed by a walk to Jeremy Aliff. Jules Roussel hung the first Major run with a single to right, scoring Leonard, and then stole second to put two in scoring position for Will Hawkins. Hawkins then singled to center to drive in both Aliff and Roussel. Hawkins stole second and was moved to third by Jake Mills a batter later, setting up Josh Ordeneaux to score the fourth run of the frame for the Majors, 4-2.

A walk, a double, and a single – all with two outs – allowed the Majors to put some distance between themselves and the Panthers in the fourth inning, 7-2. They then scored two more in the sixth and eighth to put the Panthers away, 11-3.

Elliot Varney got the win in seven innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts. John Pemberton got the Panthers 1-2-3 in the eighth and Boomer Hudson came on in the ninth to close out the win.

Three Majors ended the night with three RBIs each in Jake Mills, Josh Ordeneaux, and Will Hawkins. Hawkins collected four hits on the night to reach 200 for his career. He becomes just the eighth Major in school history to accomplish the feat, and only the 29th in SCAC history.

Earlier this season, Kyle Felix of Trinity University and Drew Leachman of Birmingham-Southern College became the 27th and 28th SCAC players respectively to reach the 200-hit plateau.

The Majors and Panthers will return to Twenty Field tomorrow afternoon for the second game of the three-game series. First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m., up from the original start time due to weather concerns.