Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MELBOURNE - The visiting Florida Southern Moccasins were swept by Sunshine State Conference foe and 11th-ranked Florida Tech in a Saturday doubleheader at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field.
The Mocs (11-15, 1-7 SSC) outhit the Panthers (26-4, 9-3 SSC), 12-to-9, in Game 1 of the twin bill but could only push three runs across the plate in the 6-3 loss.
Starting pitcher Ben Richardson looked good through his first four innings of work, limiting the Panthers to two runs, one unearned, on four hits. His only real blemish in the first four frames was a solo home run surrendered to Ricky Rodriguez in the bottom of the fourth, which gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead.
FSC worked the bases loaded in the top of the fifth off a Casey Eddinger (Crawfordville, Fla.) double, a walk issued to junior Sam Machonis (Tampa, Fla.) and a single from Shawn Sanders. Chris Dennis followed with a bunt single, tying the game at 2-2. Jhalan Jackson (Winter Haven, Fla.) gave the Mocs a one-run lead on the sacrifice fly to right field.
The Panthers also loaded the bases in their half of the fifth. With the bases juiced and no outs, Grant McKown knotted the game at 3-3 with a sac fly, and then Austin Allen cleared the bases with a two-run double to right center. Richardson walked the next two batters, once again filling up the bases, but David Wilson fouled out to get the Mocs out of the jam down only 5-3.
Richardson's day was over after a solo shot from Allen allowed the Panthers to double-up the Mocs, 6-3, in the top of the seventh. The Orlando, Fla., native surrendered five earned runs on eight hits and five walks while striking out only one in 6.1 innings on the mound.
Senior righty Austin Barnett (Lakeland, Fla.) gave up only one hit in his 1.2 relief innings, but the Mocs hit into three double plays, one each in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, thwarting any chance of a comeback. FSC's best chance started with a one-out double by Jackson in the eighth, but redshirt juniors Blake Swann (Live Oak, Fla.) and Dominic Brugnoni (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) both flied out to strand Jackson at third.
Ashton Fronsoe improved to 6-1 with the victory for the Panthers. Fronsoe didn't earn a strikeout, but gave up only three runs off nine hits in 6.0 innings. Jerrod Leinhauser earned the save, his sixth of the season, with a scoreless ninth.
Sanders, Dennis and sophomore Jason Sierra (Sarasota, Fla.) finished with two hits apiece in the early game. Eddinger went 3-for-4 from the ninth spot in the lineup with one run scored to pace the Moccasin offense.
The bats came alive in the nightcap. While the Mocs received home runs from Sanders, Dennis and Jackson, the Panthers got one each from Tyler Doughty and Ryan Sinzenich as part of their 21-hit outing. The Mocs dropped Game 2 by a final of 17-5.
Starter Craig Savage, a sophomore from Apopka, Fla., was tagged with the loss after the giving up nine runs on eight hits in only 2.0 innings.
Dennis gave the Mocs a brief 1-0 lead with his first home run of the season in the top of the first. The senior from Rockledge, Fla., now has a hit in 24 consecutive games dating back to the series opener against Claflin on Feb. 6. He is batting .408 over that span.
The Panthers scored five in the bottom of the first, all with two outs. Rodriguez tripled home a run and then scored on a wild pitch to jump ahead 2-0. Doughty crushed a 3-1 pitch out of the park in the next at bat, and following a 3-2 base hit from Daniel Szpik, Sinzenich sent a two-run shot over the wall in left.
Doughty highlighted a four-run second inning with a two-run double. The Panthers led 9-1 after two frames and never looked back. Both Doughty and Senzenich finished with three hits and five RBIs apiece in Game 2.
Sanders, who paced the Mocs with three hits, two RBIs and a run in Game 2, carved a chunk out of the deficit with his third homer of the season in the third inning. The junior transfer from Citra, Fla., extended his streak of multi-hit games to four and has at least two hits in seven of his last nine games.
Trailing 16-4, Jackson led off the top of the eighth inning with his team-leading ninth homer of the season. With that, the Hillsborough Community College transfer extended his hit streak to seven games .
Grant Willcoxon earned the win for the Panthers in Game 2, tossing 5.0 innings and striking out four. He gave up three runs, one earned, on three hits.
Florida Southern will conclude the three-game series at Florida Tech with a 1 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 29, a make-up of Friday's rained-out series opener.
