Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – With the help of Dan Branca and Kevin Rea's stellar performances at the plate, and the pitching trio of Anthony Katchuk, Joey Cuda, and Francisco Collazo, the Eckerd baseball team defeated Webber International University, 7-1, Tuesday evening at the Turley Athletic Complex.
The Tritons (16-17) jumped on board first in the bottom of the second after Oliver Killoren hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Minner Labrador from third to give them the 1-0 advantage. The Warriors answered back with a run of their own the following inning to tie the game, 1-1. Branca connected with a base hit up the middle to bring home David Regidor from second base to be up one on the Warriors in the bottom of the fifth inning. Rea followed with a double down the left field line that plated Branca. The Tritons added one more run to their total that same inning from Matt Abraham's base hit that brought Rea home from third to give Eckerd the 4-1 lead. Eckerd added three more runs during their last two at bats, giving them the 7-1 advantage over the Warriors.
The Warriors (21-21) threatened to come back in the seventh inning after having runners on first and second with two outs, but the Triton defense was able to make the final out on a hard hit grounder to third to end the inning. Eckerd's triple pitching threat of Katchuk, Cuda, and Collazo shut down the Webber offense, striking out seven batters while only giving up three hits, one run, and four walks. Katchuk received the win for the night, giving him his second win of the season.
Branca led the way for the Tritons at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs and one run batted in. Rea also had a stellar performance at the plate, going 2-for-4, both of which were RBI doubles down the left field line.
Eckerd will return to action Friday, April 9th, as they travel over to Melbourne, Florida to take on Florida Tech in their conference series opener. The first pitch is set to be thrown at 3:00 pm.
