MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. - A furious late-innings Brevard rally in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader fell short, giving Milligan a sweep by scores of 6-2 and 6-5 in nonconference action.
The Tornados (5-7) trailed 5-0 after Milligan (4-2) put four runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning. Brevard had managed just three hits through the first five frames, struggling to solve Buffaloes' starter Jessica Goodson.
But the Tornados broke through in the top of the sixth beginning with a Lauren Parker single up the middle and a Peyton Bailey walk. An RBI single by Kinsey Parrish gave the Tornados two runners in scoring position with no outs after both runners advanced on the throw home.
Paige Atkison chased Goodson from the game two pitches later as she blasted her second home run in as many days, this time an opposite field shot that cleared the fence in right. The Tornados put two more runners on before a sharp line drive to right field by Ashleigh Ivey ended the inning.
Milligan scored a crucial insurance run with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning. The Tornados scored a run in the top of the seventh when Ricki Kuhn ripped a first-pitch single past a lunging third baseman and into left field, but the side was retired when Kinny Davis was narrowly thrown out on a bang-bang play after a grounder to third.
Jamie Hrobak suffered the loss in Game Two one day after a dominant performance in both ends of the doubleheader against Converse. Hrobak threw 309 pitches over the course of the weekend. She added 10 strikeouts to her 22 from Friday afternoon and allowed just four walks during her 19.1 innings in the circle.
In Game One, Hrobak pitched an inning in relief of Ricki Kuhn after the freshman allowed six Milligan runs on eight hits over five innings. The Buffaloes pounced early in the contest, taking a 3-0 lead on a bases-clearing double by left fielder Jessica Connaster with two outs in the second inning.
The Buffaloes would tack on a single run in the third and two more in the sixth to counter two Brevard runs. A Davis RBI single in the third got the Tornados on the board, with Hanna Huckabee's bases-loaded walk representing Brevard's other score.
Brevard will enjoy an extended break before returning to the field to play at Winston-Salem State on March 2.
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