MELBOURNE, Fla. - On a gloomy Saturday afternoon, Florida Tech baseball (15-26, 7-14 SSC) battled the Lions of Saint Leo (31-9, 14-7 SSC) in a pair of extra-inning games, in which the Panthers split the wild doubleheader by taking the first game, 3-2, and fell 5-9 during the second game at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field.

Leading the Panthers at the plate, Jakob Newton went a combined 4-for-7 with two runs and one RBI over the two games. 

On the mound, Drew Beyer (3-4) opened Game 1 for FIT, where he struck out four and allowed only two runs in 8.2 innings.
During Game 2, junior Rhett Willis put together a dominant performance as he went for six complete innings, giving up only one run on five hits and collected three strikeouts.

Coming in to close out Game 1, Jordan Murray (3-3) recorded his third seasonal win after he pitched a masterful 1.1 innings. Striking out two, Murray did not surrender a run and only gave up one hit during his time on the mound.

In the first game, Saint Leo jumped out to an early, 2-0 lead after they scored two runs in the top half of the first and second innings. The two-run lead would be held until the bottom of the eight, where the Crimson and Gray tied up the score thanks to James Gronberg's single and Jacob Buser's bases-loaded hit by a pitch.

Entering into extras, the Panthers managed to win the game in the 10^th on a walk-off single by Daniel Szpik, 3-2.

During Game 2, Szpik picked up where he left off, doubling to score Ryan Sinzenich to give FIT an immediate, 1-0 lead over SLU. In the next at-bat, Kevin Capella made the score, 2-0 with a sacrifice fly, which gave Buser enough time to cross home plate. 

Newton added to the Panthers' total in the second, hitting a triple to the right-center gap to send home Raul Quintero for a 3-0 lead. Rodnie Bernard then followed to push in the fourth run of the game off a hard grounder through the left side to score Newton.

With a 4-0 lead, Quintero batted in the fifth consecutive run with a shot down the right-field line in the bottom of the fifth.

Unfortunately, Saint Leo managed to shorten the five-run deficit to one, 5-4 during the sixth and seventh innings, scoring on a series of errors by Panthers defense.

Due to a sudden rainstorm, the game was delayed in the bottom of the eighth and was later resumed at 10:45 p.m. to play the final inning and a half.

The Lions tied the game in the top of the ninth off of a Brett Coffel double, which tied the game, 5-5 to send it into extra innings.

Unfortunately, Saint Leo wrapped up the game and the series in the top of the 12^th with a four-run scoring drive to put the game out of reach for the Melbourne lineup, 9-5.

Back in action next Thursday, Apr. 26, Florida Tech will welcome Palm Beach Atlantic to Melbourne for their final home series of the season. During the series doubleheader, the 2018 senior class will be honored for Senior Day.
You can follow the action live at FloridaTechSports.com/live