It was Valentine's Day, but the Moccasins weren't showing any love as FSC downed Palm Beach Atlantic 9-4 in game one of a doubleader Saturday at Henley Field. Florida Southern, 5-3, got their second straight strong starting pitching performance as Stephen Batman struck out eight over seven innings. The junior righthander allowed two earned runs on six hits to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Nick Stanley led the Mocs with three runs batted in on a pair of hits while Andrew Grutka added three hits. Trae Gore, Zach Maggard and Braxton Chisholm each had two hits as the Mocs amassed 15 hits in the contest.
The Moccasins combined a walk, hit batsman and a wild pitch with a single by Zach Maggard to push across a pair of runs in the bottom of the first for a quick 2-0 lead.
The Sailfish cut into the Mocs' lead with one run in the top of the fourth on a single by Jeff Myer, a double by Tony Livelsberger and and an FSC error. Florida Southern answered with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Wade Kirkland reached on an error and was followed by a base on balls by Robbie Shields. Nick Stanley then drove a ball into right field to score both runners and give the Mocs a 4-1 lead. After the Mocs added a solo run the sixth on a double by Trae Gore and a RBI single by Sheilds, the Sailfish came back with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on a two-out, two-run homer by Nick Norley with Mike Kutch aboard.
The Moccasins pushed across four runs in the bottom of the seventh on five hits including an RBI double by Colin Kaline and RBI-singles by Gore and Kirkland to take a 9-3 lead. Logan Thomas took the loss for the Sailfish, 1-7, to fall to 0-2.
