The DePauw baseball team faced No. 10 Birmingham-Southern College in a three-game series at home last weekend, winning two and losing one to set their overall record t 12-17 and 3-6 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
In the Saturday's doubleheader, the Panthers pounded out 34 hits and swept DePauw by scores of 6-3 and 17-6.
In the first game, DePauw totaled 10 hits. Sophomore Jason Cohen lead the way with three and freshman Rob McPike, sophomore Zach Galyean and junior Aaron Henry followed with two each. In the second game, seven different DePauw players had one hit apiece.
"We competed really well for the first game," said pitcher Andy Manson, a junior. "We weren't consistent the second game. [Consistency] has plagued us all year."
On Sunday, DePauw overcame a 4-0 deficit and held off a Birmingham-Southern ninth-inning rally, defeating the Panthers, 7-6.
The Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the fourth as out-fielder Alex Berlyn walked before Henry and senior Ben Gardner reached after being hit by pitches to load the bases. Galyean then delivered a two-run single, which knotted the score at 4-4. McPike reached when the Birmingham-Southern first basemen dropped what would have been the completion of a double play. Cohen then singled home Gardner and McPike scored on a wild pitch giving the Tigers a 6-4 advantage.
Birmingham-Southern's Jon Walker's sixth-inning single scored Austin Justice and trimmed DePauw's lead to 6-5. DePauw added a run in the seventh as Wright led off with a single and moved to second on freshman Robbie Stein's sacrifice bunt. Wright then moved on to third on a passed ball and scored on junior Sam Swafford's sacrifice fly to right to push the Tigers' lead to 7-5.
The Panthers added one more in the ninth, but were unable to bounce back. DePauw totaled seven hits and Manson improved 3-1 after going almost nine innings, while senior Michael Peterson collected his first save of the season.
"We didn't have the day on Saturday we would have liked, but we bounced back on Sunday," Galyean said. "We definitely have a chance at making the tournament"
Manson hopes that the team can sweep Centre College this weekend, automatically putting them in the SCAC tournament.
"We've proven we can be a good team, we just need to find consistency," Manson said.
DePauw was originally scheduled to play the Little Giants at Wabash College today at 4:30 p.m., but the game has been postponed to Wednesday at 4 p.m.