MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - On Saturday afternoon, Florida Tech (19-14, 5-7 SSC) split the twin bill against the Barry Buccaneers (17-15, 2-8 SSC), dropping a 12-2 decision in Game 1, while going on to win Game 2, 3-0 after holding BU to just one hit.

Recording her second shutout of the season, junior Melanie Murphy (8-5) held the Bucs scoreless for seven complete innings, where she allotted solely one hit and struck out three batters. With today's performance, the Melbourne native now corals the one spot inside the conference leaderboard with an outstanding 1.29 ERA in 92.1 innings pitched.

Leading the offense with a .500 batting average, freshman Mikayla Wessel ended the weekend outing with a 4-for-8 performance and one RBI. Pitching in with two RBI, junior Shanysse Emerenciana went 2-for-6 to include her first home run of the season. Joining in power slugging, fellow teammate Alexus Smith collected her first dinger and fifth double of the 2018 campaign.
 
In Game 1, the Buccaneers started things off in their first at-bats, as the Miami Shores lineup brought in four runs in the bottom of the first to move past the Panthers, 4-0. After a blank second for both dugouts, Barry doubled its stretch in the bottom of the third with four more runs, 8-0.
 
After the Bucs tallied an extra run in the fourth, Florida Tech responded in the fifth with a solo bomb by Emerenciana and an RBI single by Wessel to reduce the gap, 9-2 for FIT. In the sixth, the Melbourne squad struck again on a double by Smith and single by Emerenciana to drive in one run to decrease the deficit by five. However, Florida Tech struggled to breach the Bucs defense and eventually fell to the Miami Shores lineup, 9-4.

During to the second outing, both pitching staffs controlled the game until the third inning, where a sac fly by Makayla Palmer broke the balance to bring to FIT its first run,1-0. Holding the Buccaneer scoreless in their home offensive half, Florida Tech increased its lead in the fourth after Victoria Szrom and Xiarysse Emerenciana combined to bring in one more run for the Crimson and Gray, 2-0. With a two-run lead headed into the top of the sixth, the Panthers third baseman blasted a solo homer to increase the margin, 3-0.

In the final frame, Murphy forced one groundout and two fly outs to wrap up the W, 3-0.

The Panthers will return to the Nancy Bottge Field to host the Columbus State Cougars for a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, Mar. 21. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET.

For more info, please visit FloridaTechSports.com!