Melbourne, Fla. - On March 12, the Panthers faced the Mocs for another Sunshine State Conference battle. Florida Tech (19-15, SSC 8-8) was unable to defeat Florida Southern (20-15, SSC 6-10) in a close game (4-3). 

The Panthers Ace, Andrew Marzheuser, pitched 4.2 innings allowing six hits, three runs and a walk. Marzheuser also recorded seven strikeouts in the game. 

Offensively, the Panthers tallied 10 hits on 33 at bats for a team batting average of .303. Florida Tech was having quality at bats all game as they also walked five time in nine innings of play. 

Pedro Rivera performed well both on defense and offensive throughout the game. On defense, he was perfect on the day making a couple of big plays for the Panthers.  On offense, Rivera scored the first Panther run with a RBI double by Rodnie Bernard. Rivera in the 8th, put the Panthers within striking distance with a two RBI single to center making it a 4-3 ball game. The Panther shortstop went 3-for-4 with a run scored, two RBI's and a double. 

Bernard had another good day at the plate as he went 2-for-5 with a RBI and a double. Blaise Maris improved his batting average to .313 with a 2-for-3 performance. 

James Gronberg moved up in the record books with his stolen base today breaking the tie with John Restivo. He is now at 65 career stolen bases with 15 games left on the regular season. 

The Panthers will be back tomorrow at 12 p.m. as they look to even the series to one game.  

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