Tag Archives: Southern Athletic Association

23 Apr

ready or not

In a much different position than it was in a year ago, Millsaps College starts postseason play on Friday. The fourth-seeded Majors (21-16 after scoring 27 runs in a two-game sweep at Oglethorpe over the weekend) play 5-seed Hendrix in one of the two four-team pods in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament. Also in Millsaps’ bracket are No. 1 seed (and pod host) Birmingham-Southern and 8-seed Sewanee. The survivors from the double-elimination pods meet in a best-of-3 series for the conference title. Millsaps won both the regular season and postseason championships in 2013 en route to the NCAA Division III World Series. Keith Shumaker beat Birmingham-Southern in the title clincher at Twenty Field last May. The preseason All-American is still around, sporting a 5-1, 2.39 pitching ledger and a .344 batting average. But Shumaker and the Majors have their work cut out for them in their quest to repeat as league champs and return to the D-III regionals.

08 Feb

a major player

There is a spotlight on Millsaps College’s Keith Shumaker this season. The junior third baseman/pitcher from Brandon was the Southern Athletic Association player of the year in 2013 and was named a first-team preseason All-America this year by d3baseball.com. Shumaker, who also figures to be a prime contender for the 2014 Ferriss Trophy award, hit .376 with four homers, 52 RBIs and 63 runs AND went 6-2 with a 3.01 ERA on the mound. Obviously, he was a major cog in the Majors’ 38-14 campaign that ended in the NCAA Division III College World Series, the school’s first trip there. Well, if Shumaker is feeling any heat, it didn’t show in Millsaps’ opener on Friday. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run in a 4-1 win over Randolph-Macon at Huntingdon (Ala.) in Montgomery. The Majors have two more games slated in the Alabama event before their home opener on Tuesday against Belhaven.