LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball team doubleheader sweep as they win the series against Florida Tech Saturday afternoon at Henley Field. The Mocs lost game one yesterday but rallied for back-to-back wins on Saturday.
The Mocs (16-14, 7-5 SSC) fought for the 3-1 game one win and added three home runs in game two for the doubleheader sweep. The Panthers (24-9, 8-7 SSC) fought back in the later innings of the second game, but unable Mocs win 9-7 in the second game to take the series with back-to-back wins.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 3, FLORIDA TECH 1
A great start to game one as both teams battled from the mound through four scoreless innings.
Nathan Chevalier had a single in the bottom of the first but left on as the Mocs continued to work on hits.
Aric McAtee controlled the mound for the Mocs in a close top of the fifth as Florida Tech had two singles, but McAtee did his part to retire the inning and leave both Panthers on base.
Florida Southern scored first in the bottom of the fifth after back-to-back hits by the Mocs.
Jared DeSantolo singled first through the right side, which
Connor Berry answered with a big double to deep left field. A wild pitch brought DeSantolo home for the first run, followed by a sacrifice fly by
Joe Raffaele to bring Berry home and 2-0 lead through five innings.
A nail-biting bottom of the seventh as the Panthers scored one to narrow the deficit. The Panthers had the bases loaded at one point after a couple walks, but
Ryan Langford came in to relieve with an exciting strikeout to leave three Florida Tech Panthers on base and 2-1 Moccasin advantage. The Mocs had two hits in the bottom of the seventh, but score remained the same through seven.
Florida Southern added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as Langford struck out tow more batters in the top of the ninth to save the Florida Southern win. The Mocs combined for 10 strikeouts, with McAtee six of them and the other four to Langford.
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 9, FLORIDA TECH 7
Another exciting game as the Mocs climbed to an early lead built by
Jeff Liquori. Liquori hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first and followed up with a consecutive at-bat home runs with a two-run shot to right field. An RBI double by Berry added another run for Chevalier to come home and 4-0 game through two innings.
Florida Tech had two on base in the top of the third looking to narrow the deficit, but
Dawson Lane handled the threat to allow the Mocs to score another run in the bottom of the third, this time by an RBI sac fly by
Julio Cortez. Both teams went scoreless in the fourth, before the Panthers added a run off a single by Dahonos and 5-1 Moccasin lead.
Another big inning for the Mocs as
Ryan Jenkins smashed a two-run homer to bring Hunter home and a 7-1 lead through five innings. The Panthers responded in the top of the sixth as back-to-back singles brought in three runs before
Christian Suarez came in to leave three on and escape still ahead by three.
In the top of the seventh, Florida Tech had an RBI single by Eldridge and bring the score to a close 7-5 game. A wild bottom of the seventh led to two runs by Florida Southern and breathing room for the Mocs off an error and 9-5 game for the Mocs. Florida Tech again cut into the deficit with a sac fly by Dahonos and an RBI double by Newton for the 9-7 score in the top of the eighth, but the Mocs hold on for the win.
UP NEXT
The Mocs will continue conference play as they have a road series against Rollins College, beginning next Friday at 5 p.m. in Winter Park, Fla.
