ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Triton baseball team dropped their conference series opener to the Lynn Fighting Knights Friday night at the Turley Athletic Complex. After having a tied game for two innings, Lynn was able to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, defeating Eckerd 3-5.
Lynn (14-31-1, 4-12 SSC) come out in the first inning collecting five hits and three runs off of the Triton starting pitcher. Eckerd (17-25, 1-18 SSC) was able to cut the lead down by two during their at-bats, with David Regidor starting the one out rally by drawing a walk. He advanced to third on two errors made by the Fighting Knight defense, which also allowed Minner Labrador to reach first base. With runners on first and third and two outs, Dan Branca connected with a single through the left side to bring home Regidor to make it a 1-3 game.
The Tritons were able to strike again with runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lynn's starting pitcher Tommy Kahnle made a wild pitch with bases loaded that plated Joe Dabah from third. Shortly after, Branca hustled home on Stephen Pelc's line drive to left field to make it a tied ball game.
However, Lynn was able to regain the lead in the top of the seventh inning on a base hit to right field that made it a 3-4 game. The Fighting Knights were also able to take advantage of two errors made by the Tritons that brought in the second run of the inning, making it a 3-5 Lynn game. Eckerd was able to put runners in scoring position in the bottom of then ninth inning, but the Lynn defense was able to shut down the Triton offense, taking the 3-5 victory.
Branca led the way at the plate for Eckerd, going 2-for-4 while one run and one RBI. Chris Clinton, Kevin Rea, Aaron Shapiro and Dabah picked up one hit a piece.
The Tritons will close out their series with the Fighting Knights tomorrow as they celebrate their graduating class in the final home games of the season. First game is set to start at 1:00 pm.
