Mocs End 2024 Season With Series Sweep Over Panthers

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College baseball team ended the 2024 season with a series sweep against Florida Tech on Saturday afternoon at Henley Field. The Mocs honored departing seniors El'Rico Riley, Jevin Relaford, Jaiden Warde, Jack Duffy, Grady Maguire, Rohsean Riley, Tommy Turkett, Lake Fisher, Justin Stewart, Nick Collins, Tilden Agee, Jake Curry, and Mitchell LeRoy in a pregame ceremony.
 
The Mocs (18-30, 12-18 SSC) dominated both games for the afternoon doubleheader that began with a 9-7 game one victory and a 15-5 run rule in the eighth inning of the series finale. The Panthers (17-33, 8-22 SSC) could not stop the scoring on FSC's side despite keeping the hits relatively close in both games.
 
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 9, FLORIDA TECH 7
After giving up a single run in the first inning, FSC replicated its monster first inning from the previous night with four runs scored, including a big three-run homer by Collins. Fisher had the first run for the Mocs with an RBI single before Collins' homer took a 4-1 FSC lead.
 
The Mocs scored a single run over the next three innings which began with a no-out double play but a free run scored for Duffy to make it a 5-1 game. Tech responded with a three-run homer in the third inning to narrow the deficit to just one run, but that was extended to two runs after a sacrifice fly by Duffy to send Collins home in the bottom third. Fisher followed in the fourth with an RBI double and the Mocs led by three halfway through the game.
 
A solo run off an RBI single from Tech in the fifth narrowed the game, though the Mocs scored two off a single by Fisher, his fourth RBI of the game, for a 9-5 game in the sixth. The final runs came from Tech in the seventh with a solo homer and a passed ball score as FSC held on for the final two innings to win 9-7 and clinch a series victory.
 
Marcos Herrand had the start for the Mocs and went six innings with five strikeouts for the win and LeRoy had a productive three innings to earn a save, also striking out five. FSC outhit FT 14-to-12 as Relaford and Fisher had three-hit days. All but one in the lineup reached base on a hit, with four notching two or more hits. Means was handed the loss for Tech.
 
FLORIDA SOUTHERN 15, FLORIDA TECH 5 (8 INN.)
A slight change from the previous two games, neither team scored in the first, but FSC continued with its monster weekend with seven runs in the second inning. Agee started behind the plate and had a memorable final game of his collegiate career that started with an RBI single in the second for the first run. R. Riley scored two with a single shortly after with RBI singles by Maguire and Warde adding more runs. A bases-loaded walk sent in another run with a 7-0 Moccasin lead that they never relinquished.
 
Bases loaded once again in the third inning produced the third grand slam of the weekend with E. Riley taking it deep to left center for an 11-0 lead in just the first three innings. Tech answered with a three-run homer in the fourth and a wild pitch in the sixth added a fourth run for an 11-4 game.
 
Agee continued his great game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to send Warde around with him and a 13-4 game into the final innings. Tech added a single run in the seventh, catching the Mocs defense off guard in the sneaky move, though FT was still down by eight. A wild pitch scored a single run for FSC in the bottom seventh and Agee was a hero once again with a walk-off homer in the final game of the season, and his career, to give FSC a 15-5 victory and series sweep.
 
Logan Adams had the start for FSC and went six innings for his third win of 2024. Curry had a great single inning with two strikeouts and Evan Mobley entered for the final inning to help lead FSC to a 10-run advantage. Tech used seven pitchers and Anderson was handed the loss as the starter. Warde and Agee led the team with three hits each as FSC had 13 as a team over Tech's nine. E. Riley and Agee each had four RBI.
 
Though not the season FSC wanted in 2024, the Mocs ended with a series sweep and continued to show an enormous amount of grit for the final weekend. Three grand slams in the final weekend surpassed any recorded FSC best for the program and Agee's two-homer finale was the first time this season a Moccasin had a multi-home run game. Head coach Lance Niekro '10 ends the 2024 season with 318 wins, moving him into third overall in FSC baseball history among legendary coaches. Hal Smeltzly (387) and Chuck Anderson (843) remain the two winningest coaches in program history thus far. Top leaders for FSC in 2024 include Bryce Safferwich with 37 games played and a .333 batting average. Fisher and Chris McKenna each batted over .300 in their games played (fewer than 75% of season games) with the RBI leader for 2024 going to E. Riley with 32 on the year. E. Riley and Duffy each had six homers to lead the team and Relaford led the team with 58 hits while starting in all 48 games this year. From the mound, LeRoy led the team with 48 strikeouts and tied Tanner Rollyson with four wins on the season. 
 
 
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