MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - Florida Tech baseball packed its bags and headed down south to take on Sunshine State Conference rival Barry in a three-game series that started Sunday. The Panthers grabbed the win in game one after a late game rally but trailed the Buccaneers, 16-5, in game two before it was suspended in the bottom of the eighth due to time constraints.
 
Daniel Szpik paced the Crimson and Gray at the plate as he went 3-for-7 with four runs and three RBIs.
 
On the rubber to open the weekend was Panthers ace Ty Cohen. Cohen lasted six and two-thirds innings and allowed seven runs, six earned, on nine hits to the Bucs. The senior fanned eight batters in the game to bring his season total to 106 strikeouts and move him into fourth on the SSC leaderboard.
 
Jake Lane (2-4) was called upon to relieve Cohen in the seventh inning. He tossed one and a third frames and allowed no runs during his outing.
 
Senior closer Drew Beyer took the mound to finish out game one. Beyer gave up one run in his lone inning of work as he picked up his sixth save of the year, which is tied for second most in the conference in 2018.
 
Game one started out slowly for the Panthers as they fell behind 6-0 heading into the seventh due to three home runs and a double by Barry. However, some late game heroics allowed FIT to outscore the Bucs, 10-1, in the final three innings and steal the victory.
 
Senior Kevin Capella fired the first shot against Barry as he sent a double into right field that allowed Szpik and Jacob Buser to cross home plate. Later in the seventh, Jakob Newton singled up the middle to send Capella trotting across the bag and bring the score to 3-6.
 
Barry earned their final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh off of a deep sacrifice fly to make it a 6-4 game.
 
The Crimson and Gray resumed their assault in the top of the eighth as Szpik sent a three-run dinger over the right field wall for his fifth homer of the season. This brought the game to within one for the team, 6-5.
 
The Panthers put the nail in the coffin in the ninth inning as another huge inning saw the team score their final four runs. Raul Quintero tied the game at 7-7 as he too added his name to the long list of players to send one out of the park.
 
The final three runs of the game came off of Buccaneer mistakes.
 
First, Ryan Sinzenich earned his conference leading 42nd walk of the season with the bases loaded, which allowed Newton a free pass to cross home with the game winning run. The final two insurance runs came about thanks to a throwing error by the first basemen that gave both Rodnie Bernard and James Gronberg time to cross the bag.
 
In game two, head coach Greg Berkemeier sent Lane back to the mound for the second time of the day but this time as the Panthers' starter. During his second outing, Lane lasted two and a third innings and surrendered three runs on two hits and struck out two batters.
 
The Panthers then reached into the bullpen to close out the bout as two more pitchers took to the rubber to finish out the evening. Matt DiNenna was first and lasted one inning while Jake Buck picked up the rest of the work until the suspension.
 
Florida Tech took the first lead of game two in the opening half inning as Gronberg stole third but continued on to home plate after a throwing error by the catcher.
 
However, it did not last long as a five-run bottom of the third gave the Buccaneers a 5-1 advantage over FIT.
 
Barry tacked on three more runs in its next trip to the plate as the home team pushed its lead to seven runs. The Buccaneers added three more runs in the fifth to bring the score to 11-1.
 
Florida Tech picked up a run in the top of the sixth thanks to a Capella double that pushed Szpik over home plate.
 
Another dent was put into the lead when Gronberg blasted a two-run ball over the left field fence during the seventh inning.
 
But Barry managed to make the game 14-4 as the Bucs answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Pierson Reynolds tacked on a fifth run for Florida Tech when he sent a deep sacrifice fly to left field that brought Szpik home in the eighth.
 
The Bucs then extended their lead to 16-5 as they added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth before the game was suspended for the night.
 
The teams will need to complete game two on Monday before beginning the final game of the series. You can follow the action live at FloridaTechSports.com/live.