MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Tech baseball team hosted Palm Beach Atlantic for their final home games of the season, but came up short in two tightly contested games, 4-3 in extra innings in game one, and 5-3 in game two.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Game 1 Final: Florida Tech 3, PBA 4 (11 Inn.)
Game 2 Final: Florida Tech 3, PBA 5
Records: Florida Tech (17-30, 8-19 SSC), PBA (21-25, 17-13 SSC)
Location: Andy Seminick-Les Hall Field
 
STATS OF GAME 1:

• Sean Means sat down the Sailfish in order to start the game in the top of the first inning with three-straight groundballs to first base on less than 10 pitches.
• PBA struck first in the top of the third inning with an RBI single from Matty Warren to take a 1-0 lead.
• Nate Housen homered to lead off the top of the fourth inning to extend the Sailfish lead to 2-0.
• Tech got on the board in the bottom of the fourth after Marshall Burke reached on an error, stole second, and came home on an RBI single by Josh Ford, all with two outs.
• The Sailfish tacked on another run in the top of the sixth with an RBI single from Patrick Rakes to take a 3-1 lead.
• Tech threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and one out. Gabe Garrett hit into a fielder's choice that brought home a run to cut the lead down to 3-2, but Garrett would be thrown out trying to steal second on the next pitch to end the inning.
• Jason Blackstone led off the bottom of the eighth with a game-tying solo home run over the left field fence.
• PBA looked to retake the lead in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs. Brady Guthrie buckled down on the mound and struck out the next batter before inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and keep the game tied at 3-3.
• The Panthers would go down in order in the bottom of the ninth. Brett Kelly almost went deep to win the game but came up just short and the left fielder caught the ball against the fence.
• B. Guthrie kept the Sailfish off the board in the top of the 10th, including a crucial pick off of a runner on second with one out.
• In the bottom of the 10th with two outs, Noah Burke hit a single into left field, and M. Burke followed up with a walk to push N. Burke into scoring position. Ford stepped up and smashed a line drive, but it was right at the second basemen to end the inning.
• In the top of the 11th inning, Rakes reached first base with one out after an error on a bunt attempt. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and would come around to score on a two-out base knock by Jake McNamara to give PBA a 4-3 lead.
• Joseph Phan reached first with a single to lead off the bottom of the 11th. He would advance to third after a sacrifice bunt and flyout in the next two at-bats, but the final Panther of the inning would ground out to second base to end the game.

 
STATS OF GAME 2:

• Both teams worked scoreless innings across the first two frames. Trenten Anderson picked up three strikeouts along the way for the Panthers on the mound.
• In the top of the third, back-to-back two-out hits brought in a run to give PBA a 1-0 lead.
• Jason Blackstone led off the bottom of the third inning with a double but would be stranded after the next three Panthers went down in order.
• In the top of the fifth inning, the Sailfish added another run with a safety squeeze to make it a 2-0 game.
• The next inning, PBA added three runs on three hits and two walks to extend the lead to 5-0.
• Noah Burke nearly put Tech on the board with a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh but had to settle for a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-1 game.
• In the bottom of the eighth inning, Brett Kelly brought the Panthers within two, 5-3, with a two-out, two-run blast over the left field fence.
• Tech would go down in order in the bottom of the ninth to end the game with a final score of 5-3.

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

• Florida Tech moves to
• Jason Blackstone has now reached base safely in 40 straight games.
• Blackstone and Brett Kelly each hit their first home run of the season in the doubleheader.
• Since April 1, Gabe Garrett is hitting .426, with a .456 OBP, totaling 23 hits, including six doubles, and has brought in eight RBI.
• Marshall Burke is now just one hit shy of becoming the first freshman to total 60 hits in a season since Derek Wolske in 1998. He also became the third freshman since 1994 to total 15 stolen bases in a single season and the first since Chris Fox in 2008.

 
UP NEXT: The Panthers will travel to Lakeland, Fla. on Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 for its final games of the season with a three-game set against Florida Southern. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday night.
 
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