LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball extended its win streak to 10 games after an 8-5 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan College Monday night at Henley Field.
The Mocs (12-4, 3-0 SSC) took the lead early behind a big home run by
Jeff Liquori in the second and didn't look back for the rest of the game. The Panthers (4-7, 0-0 GMAC) had a late surge of scoring but not enough as Mocs won 8-5 Monday night.
Florida Southern was first to score after
Jordan Fox handled business on the mound to leave two Panthers on base in the top of the first. Mocs had an opening hit by
Jeff Liquori, who went on to steal second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With bases loaded, Liquori landed home after a balk and a 1-0 FSC lead in the first.
The Mocs continued scoring into the second inning with an RBI single by
Jevin Relaford to bring
Rohsean Riley home who had singled to open the inning. With
D'Ante Starks and Relaford in scoring position, Liquori smashed a homer deep and a 5-0 advantage to the Mocs through two innings.
KWC tallied their first runs of the game in the third with two home runs and cut the deficit to two early in the game. The next two innings were scoreless for both teams, in part due to some incredible acrobatics by Relaford at shortstop with incredible outs which kept the score 5-3 through five innings.
Scoring resumed for the Mocs in the bottom of the sixth as Starks hit a sacrifice fly to send
Mitch Donofrio home, who was on base after a double to center. Relaford had a massive triple in the bottom of the sixth but was left on base with the score 6-3 through six.
Mocs made a pitching change in the seventh for
Andrew Williamson to replace Fox, who had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the seventh. Williamson struck out his first batter faced, and back-to-back groundouts led to only one run scored with the Mocs still up by two runs.
Florida Southern responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the seventh with Berry's groundout to first allowed a run to score by Cavanaugh.
Kerry Wright relieved Williamson in the top of the eighth after Williamson did his part to keep FSC with the lead. Wright gave up two hits, one of which was an RBI single by Lyons to bring the score to 7-5, an advantage to the Mocs.
In the eighth, Mocs opened with a big triple by R. Riley, who made his way home after a sacrifice fly by Relaford to extend the Mocs' lead to three.
Collin Camarigg relieved Wright in the top of the ninth and struck out three despite runners on base for the Panthers. KWC left 12 on base in the game.
With their hits in today's game, Liquori, Cavanaugh, and R. Riley each extended their hitting streak to 11. Mocs finished with a combined 11 hits, the 12
th of the last 14 games with 10 or more hits. Fox ended with six innings pitched and four strikeouts, earning his third win of the season.
The Mocs will finish their series against the Panthers with a game tomorrow, March 7, set for a 6 p.m. start at Henley Field.
