Box Score CLEARWATER – Brandi Jones looked to be in mid-season form in her first start of the season Friday night and Priscilla Gonzalez came through again for the second game in a row. Jones struck out 13 batters and did not allow an earned run, while Gonzalez delivered a go-ahead 2-run single in the fourth inning to lead Florida Southern to a 4-2 win over Southwest Baptist (MO).
Behind their sophomore pitcher and senior designated player, the Moccasins finished the first day of the Eckerd College Spring Invitational with a 2-0 record. Jones (Snellville, Ga.) set a new career-high in strikeouts and had at least one in every inning. She issued only one walk and gave up six hits, surviving an unearned run in the fourth and another in the sixth before working around two base runners in the seventh.
Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.), who had a 2-run double in the Mocs' earlier 6-3 win over West Florida, had the big hit in Florida Southern's 4-run fourth, which erased a 1-0 deficit. The Mocs had actually gone down 1-2-3 in each of the first three innings against Bearcats pitcher Kyra Parker before stringing together five singles for all of their runs in the fourth.
The inning started with a base hit by senior Gianni Artidiello (Miami, Fla.) and junior Jordan Alexander (Valrico, Fla.) gave the Moccasins another base runner with a bunt single. Two batters later, junior Maggie Roberts (Lakeland, Fla.) singled into right to drive in Artidiello and took second on the throw, and Gonzalez followed with a single to center that put the Mocs ahead 3-1, also taking an extra base on a throw home. A third straight single by junior Leah Pemberton (Valrico, Fla.) made it 4-1.
The Bearcats (0-2) got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth when Raigan Ratliff doubled and scored on an error, but they would go on to strand two base runners that inning, and two more in the seventh.
Florida Southern will play two more games at the Eckerd Spring Invitational on Saturday, taking on Colorado Christian at 11 a.m., and Young Harris (GA) at 1:30 p.m.
