Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. – After a tough four-game road stand the Panthers finally returned to Andy Seminick – Les Hall Field this time to do battle with conference foe Eckerd. The team would snap its recent streak of bad luck as it took down the Tritons 9-5.
Top flight pitching was on display during the game as the Crimson and Gray would send out their ace,
Ty Cohen, who had a strong outing giving up only seven hits and three runs, two earned, while striking out nine in six and two-thirds innings of work.
Drew Beyer would come in as relief for Cohen and would look to shut down Eckerd. This would prove fruitful as Beyer would limit the Tritons to only three more hits and two more runs, one earned, on the night while striking out four batter in the final two and a third innings.
The night started out as a pitching duel as only one batter would safely reach base via a hit in the first two and a half innings. FIT however would quickly change that in the bottom half of the third inning when their bats came alive and they would drive in four runs during a two-out rally.
Raul Quintero would be the first to drive home runs for the team when he singled to left field, before easily taking second base on the throw, which allowed both
Vincenzo Catanza and
Joe Tesoriero to cross the plate.
Daniel Szpik would step up the plate next and successfully drove in Quintero when he too sent a shot to left field.
Jacob Buser would tally the final RBI of the inning when he sent a rocket down the right field line scoring Szpik and earning him a double in the process.
The roles would reverse over the next five and a half innings as Eckerd would slowly crawl their way back into the game and eventually take the lead, 5-4, in the top half of the eight. However, the Crimson and Gray would see another offensive explosion in the bottom half of the inning as they drove five runs across to take a 9-5 lead. This time Szpik would drive the first run home for the team when he found a gap in left center that allowed
James Gronberg to score.
Buser would then add to his hits and RBIs when he would found an opening to the right which scored both Szpik and Quintero thanks to the lone Tritons error on the day.
Rodnie Bernard and Gronberg would grab easy RBIs to end the scoring on the night thanks to respectively being hit by a pitch and tallying a walk while bases were loaded. Beyer would ice the game in dominate fashion as he struck out the final three batters to insure the Panthers victory.
The team will look to sweep the season series tomorrow afternoon when they face off against the Tritons in a doubleheader with the first pitch in game one scheduled for 12 p.m. Game two will start at 3 p.m. or thirty minutes after game one concludes. You can follow the action live at floridatechsports.com or on the SSC Digital Network.
