Melbourne, Fla. – Florida Tech would use the strength of their pitching staff and a four-run fifth inning to break their three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over Barry on Thursday evening at Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field.
The Buccaneers would break the deadlock in the top of the fourth inning, which started with a one-out walk to Joel Alvarez. He would advance to third on a double down the left-field line by David Vazquez. Bran Soccoro would then bring him home on an infield single. Daniel Vassallo would limit the damage from there by striking out Blake Brito and inducing a flyout from Willie Escala.
Florida Tech would take the lead for good with a rally in the bottom of the fifth that started courtesy of a one-out walk to Blaise Maris. A balk from Buccaneers starter Mike Reagan moved Maris to second, and he would then scoot to third on a Sam Schner groundout. Raul Quintero then brought the Panthers level with a line-drive single to center. During a Jakob Newton at-bat that ultimately concluded in a walk, Quintero moved to second on another balk by Regan and then took third on a wild pitch. Following the walk to Newton, Reagan gave way to Erislandy Rives, who issued a wild pitch to the first batter he faced, Rodnie Bernard. The wild pitch brought home Quintero and after Bernard reached on a high chopper to second, Dylan Owens and Brett Parrish each lined RBI singles to bump the Panther lead to 4-1.
Barry would claw one back in the top of the sixth with a two-out rally of their own. David Vazquez started the rally with a single to left and then moved to second on a high-hop single down the left-field line by Bran Soccoro. Blake Brito's single to left brought home Vazquez to make it 4-2, but Vassallo would close the inning and his start by inducing a groundout to first from Willie Escala.
Paul Castillo would add some insurance in the bottom of the eighth by leading off with a home run to right-center, his first of the season.
The Bucs appeared up for one more rally in the ninth, but Blaise Maris threw out Andrew Rapoza at second to end the game.
Florida Tech were led by another sterling effort on the mound from the freshman Vassallo. After acing his role in the bullpen through the season's first three weeks, he looked even better in his first start, striking out nine against just one walk over six innings of work, in which he allowed two runs on seven hits.
Panther pitching in total struck out 13 against just two walks between the trio of Vassallo, Andres Rodriguez, and Alex Carpenter.
At the plate, the Panthers' lone multi-hit effort came from Owens while he, Quintero, Parrish, and Castillo each recorded RBI.
Up Next
The Panthers (7-4, 6-4 SSC) and Buccaneers (4-4, 2-2 SSC) will conclude their three-game SSC series with a doubleheader on Saturday at Feinbloom Field in Miami Shores. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 P.M.
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