Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College baseball team was on the short end of both an offensive slugfest and a pitcher's duel to eventually cede a three-game homestand against St. Thomas University on Saturday, falling by scores of 13-6 and 2-1.
Joe McLemore and
Joey LaRose each belted home runs for the Tritons (1-3, 0-0 SSC) against the Bobcats (5-0, 0-0 TSC) in game one as both squads combined for 31 hits in the nine-inning affair.
But Eckerd had a number of defensive lapses, translating into a costly seven errors on the scoreboard.
Those miscues came into play out of the gates as St. Thomas' leadoff hitter Joel Capote reached on a fielding error. Hector Acosta launched a two-run bomb off EC starter
Johnny Lancaster in the ensuing plate appearance.
Acosta finished game one with four hits and four RBI.
But LaRose answered with his own power surge and left the ball park in the bottom of the first inning to give EC a 3-2 lead, ripping a two-run blast over the fence that scored
David Regidor, who doubled home a run earlier in the stanza.
Regidor's two bagger represented his team-best seventh hit of the young season.
St. Thomas would then string together six unanswered runs in the combined top halves of the second and fifth innings. Three runs came across on three hits in the second frame while RBI singles from Capote and Acosta keyed a three-run fifth.
Eckerd would get one run back in the bottom of the fifth on McLemore's solo shot off junior starter Danny Sanchez. The Tritons' last stand in the ninth was highlighted by pinch-hit RBI doubles from
Audry Santana and Eric Foster.
EC leadoff hitter
Alex Del Monte was 3-for-4 at the plate with a double to boost his average up to .375.
Runs came at a premium in game two as STU lefty Michael Arostegui and Tritons' starter
Jake Wilder were nearly unhittable in their own regard.
Wilder pitched a complete game with seven strong innings and fanned five in his first start of the year. He gave up just one hit through the first three innings and retired the side in order in the second and third frames.
The fourth inning was his only blemish as a pair of one-out walks coming back to haunt the Tritons. St. Thomas pushed across both runs despite getting just one hit in the inning.
The Tritons chased Arostegui for one run in the second inning after
Bryant Gibson got things going with a single. The senior outfielder has been torrid out of the starting block, going 6-for-12 (.500) in the season to date.
Dane Stone nailed down his second save in as many days with a scoreless seventh.
The Tritons are on the road to face another NAIA school, this time Webber International University on Monday in Babson Park, Fla. The first pitch is projected to be tossed around 6 p.m.
