MELBOURNE, Fla. (Baseball) – Florida Tech (27-17, SSC 11-7) wrapped up the last home series for the 2017 season in impeccable fashion, as the Panthers powered past the Rollins Tars (24-19, SSC 8-12) with a late fight on Friday morning at Andy
Seminick Les-Hall field.
In the final game of the SSC series, Florida Tech honored its Senior Class of 2017. Within the Panthers lines, 13 veterans were recognized for their accomplishments earned throughout their careers at FIT. The 2017 seniors combined, brought the Panthers baseball program 13 FIT Athletic Director's Honor Roll nominations, six SSC Players of the Week Award winners, two
All-SSC Second Team participants, and seven SSC Spring Commissioner's Honor Roll nominees.
The final home game was crowned by the Crimson and Gray with a powerful offensive performance, as the Panthers lineup collected 12 hits to produce eight runs.
In the box,
redshirt-freshman Vincenzo Catanza exploded in a raging frenzy, as the Longwood native had a perfect score at the plate going 4-for-4, missing a cycle by a whisker as
Catanza drove two singles, one double and one home run with four RBI. Fellow teammates
Reid Neal and Dan
Spzik ended the morning contest with two hits apiece, while Ryan
Sinzenich and
David Wilson recorded two RBI each.
On the mound, veteran Tyler
Deel sealed his last Panthers home game with his fifth seasonal win, as the senior out of Jacksonville struck-out three while allowing three walks and two hits for no runs in six innings pitched.
With the start of Game 3, the type of play much resembled the series opener this past Wednesday, where the pitchers were supreme protagonists. For five complete innings,
Deel and Rollins pitcher Brian Auerbach dueled to shutout the opposing team's offensive attempts.
As the sixth came around with a blank scoreboard, the Panthers turned the game around by breaking through the score in overwhelming manner.
Spzik struck first with a single through the right side and followed up stealing second. With two outs,
Sinzenich was granted a free base and
Catanza cleaned up the bases blasting a three-run bomb behind the left field fence, bringing Florida Tech ahead, 4-0.
The Panthers throttled past the Tars again in the seventh, as Wilson brought in two runners on a single, while
Sinzenich flared a triple down the right field line for an additional two runs.
Catanza followed up leaving his mark once again, driving a single through the left side to push
Sinzenich home to increase the Florida Tech stretch, 8-0.
Eventually, the Tars placed themselves on the board with one run in the ninth, but
Drew Beyer quickly ended the inning with two strikeouts and a fly out to clutch the Panthers win, 8-1.
Next up, the Panthers will travel to Ft. Lauderdale to square up against the 2016 NCAA Division II National Champions, the Nova Sharks. The SSC series will start with a doubleheader on Sunday, May 7. Game 1 is set to start at 1 p.m. ET. Fans can access live coverage of the event at FloridaTechSports.com!
