Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Senior starting pitcher
Joey Cuda punched out a career-high 14 hitters on strikes and the Eckerd College baseball program came up with timely hits to topple Rollins College in a Thursday night Sunshine State Conference victory, 4-1.
The Tritons (15-17, 3-10 SSC) scored two runs in the first inning and added additional runs in the sixth and eighth frames to hold back the Tars (19-11, 2-5 SSC).
Senior
Joe McLemore clobbered a solo home run that cleared the center-field wall and traveled an estimated 420 feet while going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI on the night.
Senior
Bryant Gibson brought home another run (runners on second and third) with a well-executed sacrifice bunt pushed past the mound and senior
Joey LaRose put the Tritons on the board first with an RBI double.
In his ninth start on the hill, Cuda improved to 5-2 on the season and was one out away from the complete-game victory, giving way to McLemore as he nailed down his second save of the spring with a strikeout to end it.
Cuda spotted his knee-buckling curveball at will and kept the opposition off balance with a darting fastball for a change of pace in the strike zone.
Already a two-time SSC Pitcher of the Week and NCBWA South Region Pitcher of the Week this season, the EC staff ace just got stronger as the game went along in his 126-pitch outing.
Cuda made quick work of the first two hitters in the ninth inning and retired each batter in the Rollins lineup at least one time on strikes.
“I definitely felt like I had pretty good stuff and had some success as the game went on,” Cuda said. “I worked with the gameplan that (catcher) Aaron (Shapiro) and pitching coach Doug Banks had laid out for me. I was able to find some holes in guys' swings and just tried to put them away as fast as I could.”
“It was a quality outing; it was nice to pitch well and get the win,” he added. “We played a complete game as a team and picked each other up defensively and offensively. We're progressing as the season gets on and making fewer mistakes as the game goes along.”
Cuda mowed through 14 Rollins hitters, besting his previous strikeout total of 13 rung up against Palm Beach Atlantic University (3/4/11) in his junior season.
He also improved on his already stellar strikeout-to-walk ratio, issuing zero free passes tonight in 8 2/3 innings worked (87 strikeouts vs. 10 walks on the season).
McLemore crushed his team-leading ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth off RC reliever Mike Howard. He also displayed a nice piece of two-out hitting in the early stages, reaching down in the zone to go with a slider offered by Tars' starter Taylor Smith for an RBI single to center that gave the Tritons a 2-0 lead.
The Tritons and Tars will look to get a doubleheader completed tomorrow at the Turley Athletic Complex with the first game getting underway at noon.
NOTES: After facing his brother (Ryan) in an intriguing chapter of sibling rivalry in Wednesday night's win against Webber International University, senior
David Regidor shattered a light in a foul pole, nearly the same exact spot that McLemore also took out a light with a foul ball.
