MELBOURNE, Fla. (Baseball) - Florida Tech (26-16, SSC 10-6) clutched a though win over the Rollins Tars, a battle that endured until the very last frames of Game 1 on Wednesday evening at Andy Seminick Les-Hall Field. The Panthers struggled to break through the score for six innings, but ultimately clawed the dub by snatching two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.

During the evening, FIT collected six hits for three RBI. Of the six base hits, two were doubles that came from junior Daniel Spzik and freshman Vincenzo Catanza. Spzik ended the game with a two-for-four performance, while Reid Neal, John Sternagel and Nick Capra batted one hit apiece.

On the mound, Andy Marzheuser mastered the Tars lineup, as the sophomore from Cincinnati took his sixth seasonal win by allowing no runs in eight innings pitched, and striking out nine with no walks. 

The first game of the series saw the pitchers as absolute protagonists, dominating the game and blanking both the Panthers and Tars lineups. Marzheuser and Rollins pitcher Brad Case put up a show, as both pitchers struck out at least one batter per inning.

In the seventh, the Panthers sparked up their fight after opening the score by two. Spzik led the FIT firepower delivering a double to the deep left field, while Capra drove in his fellow teammate on a single up the middle. After reaching third on a fly out, Capra crossed home plate on Case's wild pitch.

Now with a two-run lead, Florida Tech bumped its margin by three in the eighth. Catanza opened up the home offensive half by flaring a double to right center and then latter advance two bases, touching home, on back-to-back miscues by the Tars defense.

Up next, Rollins granted McKown a free base that was followed by a troubled pitch that put the runners in scoring position. 

With runners at third and second, Neal drove Masih home with a sac-fly to center, while John Sternagel followed up by bringing home McKown with a single to left field.

Eventually, the Tars reached the scoreboard in the ninth taking one run, but Florida Tech vanished the Rollins efforts to shorten the stretch. The win marked the Panthers tenth SSC win.

The Panthers will be back in action tomorrow for Game 2 of the series against the Tars. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. ET; fans can follow live coverage of the event at FloridaTechSports.com!