Mocs Earn 4-3 Walk-off Victory in Midweek Battle Against Florida Tech

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball team returned to the win column with a 4-3 walk-off victory against Florida Tech on Tuesday night at Henley Field.
 
The Mocs (9-13, 3-3 SSC) snapped a five-game losing streak with runs in the final two innings to walk off in the ninth of the non-conference midweek game. The Panthers (11-14, 4-5 SSC) scored first but stayed tied with FSC for most of the game and were unable to stop the late runs as FSC won 4-3.
 
The game was dominated by left-handed batters on the Florida Southern side with five of the seven hits by the lefties. Nick Collins and Grady Maguire led the team with two hits each, with RBI from Tilden Agee and Rohsean Riley. Casey O'Dell was credited with the win, his first as a Moccasin, with one inning pitched and two strikeouts. Skarbek was given the loss for the Panthers. With his 309^th career win, head coach Lance Niekro '10 surpassed Pete Meyer for fourth all-time in FSC baseball history.
 
Florida Southern was first to tally a hit as Jack Duffy hit a two-out double in the first, but he was left on for a scoreless inning. The first score of the game was for Tech as an early walk by Lake Fisher led to an RBI single by Burke for a 1-0 Panthers lead in the second.
 
A costly inning for FT in the bottom of the second as FSC had two runs to take the lead, 2-1. Nick Collins led the inning with a single, followed by a walk for Rohsean Riley. Grady Maguire had a single to the pitcher and a wild throw advanced runners to third and a run scored for Collins. Another walk and wild pitch advanced runners for an RBI groundout by Tilden Agee and a 2-1 game.
 
A fast and scoreless third inning led to a tie game in the top of the fourth as a sacrifice fly by Kelly and a run by Burke made it a 2-2 game. Neither team scored in the fifth inning as Tanner Rollyson came in to relieve Fisher with a strikeout and turned a double play to retire his first inning of work. For the Mocs, D'Ante Starks made it to third after initially being on base from a hit-by-pitch but was left on with the game still tied.
 
Three straight scoreless innings and a tie game allowed the pitchers to battle on each side with Rollyson and Logan Adams from FSC commanding the middle innings of the game. Tied into the eighth inning, a walk, balk, and single led to a fielder's choice RBI for Tech to take the lead 3-2. Marcos Herrand entered in relief of Adams to secure the final out of the eighth and allow FSC an opportunity to respond.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Duffy had a four-ball walk and a sacrifice bunt by Bryce Safferwich advanced Duffy to second. R. Riley had the big double down the right field line to tie the game, though a lineout left him on with a 3-3 score heading into the ninth.
 
O'Dell entered in the ninth and struck out two for a walk-off opportunity allowed to Florida Southern. A pitching change for FT brought in Skarbek to face El'Rico Riley as the leadoff batter, who hit a massive triple to right center. Agee was the next at-bat and a hit toward shortstop missed the glove of Tech and allowed E. Riley to walk off in the ninth and 4-3 final at home.
 
The Mocs will return to full SSC action with a short trip to No. 1 University of Tampa this weekend. Game one is set for Friday, March 22, with a 6 p.m. start and doubleheader on Saturday, March 23, beginning at 1 p.m. at UT Baseball Field.
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