lost weekend

Millsaps College wears purple, which, oddly enough, is the color of royalty but also the color of a bruise. The Majors went into a weekend series at rival Rhodes sitting on the throne in the Southern Athletic Association. They came home late Saturday feeling a little beat up. The Lynx swept the Majors in three games, handing Millsaps as many SAA losses as it had accumulated all season to that point. Birmingham-Southern, at 15-4-1 in the conference with a game to play today, appears to have captured the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference postseason. Millsaps (25-10, 15-6) will still host a four-team tournament next weekend at Twenty Field with a chance to advance to the best-of-3 championship series. BSC will also host a four-team double-elimination tourney. Millsaps stumbled in Game 1 at Memphis 5-4 on Friday despite out-hitting the host Lynx 11-7. Rhodes put up a four-spot, aided by an error, in the second inning against Smokey Ethridge (4-3) and the Majors couldn’t recover. In Game 2 on Saturday, Rhodes handed Keith Shumaker his first loss of the season (against eight wins). He allowed 11 hits and a walk in losing a 3-2 duel against Adam Putnam (7-2), who checked the Majors on six hits. In Game 3, a seven-inning nightcap on Saturday, the Lynx (26-11, 14-6) pounded out 18 hits against four Majors pitchers, blowing the game open with a six-run sixth and winning 11-2. Was the Majors’ confidence shaken by the lost weekend, or will they come out angry and motivated in the tournament next weekend?