ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After defeating the Clearwater Christian Cougars (6-13) by scores of 20-6 and 35-7 a month ago, the Eckerd Tritons (14-11) were defeated by the Cougars, 9-7, on Tuesday evening at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Despite the fact that neither squad recorded a hit until the fourth inning, the Tritons took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after
Chris Clinton scored on a steal of third and a throwing error.
After Clearwater Christian scored twice in the top of the fourth, taking a 2-1 lead, Eckerd bounced back to take a 3-2 lead on an RBI single by
Dan Branca and a sac fly by
Stephen Pelc.
The Cougars, however, responded by taking a 7-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning, taking advantage of five hits and two Triton errors to score five runs.
After Eckerd trimmed the Cougar lead to 7-4 in the fifth, the Tritons then made it 7-6 with a pair of runs in the sixth, including an RBI single by Clinton. The Cougars, once again, answered the Tritons' rally with a pair of runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 9-6.
Kevin Rea drove home a run in the bottom of the seventh, making it 9-7. Unfortunately for Eckerd, that is as close as it would get as Brent Kirkley would come in and record a five out save, throwing an inning and two thirds of shutout ball.
Josh Rebandt, who allowed just three earned runs earned the win for the Cougars while
Anthony Katchuk (1-1) took the loss for the Tritons.
Eckerd will return to the diamond on Friday, March 26 when it hosts Florida Southern in SSC action beginning at 7pm.
