Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Freshman lefty
Andrew Pierson spun 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits, and the Eckerd College baseball program collected an impressive win against Palm Beach Atlantic University under the lights on Friday, 2-0.
Respective RBI's came off the bats of junior slugger
Chris Hanson and freshman leadoff hitter
Jake O'Rourke as the Tritons (4-2, 0-0 SSC) scored a run in each of the first two innings.
Pierson collected his first winning collegiate decision as he struck out four and walked just one. He had the Sailfish (7-3 overall) out in front of his off-speed offerings all evening, taming a dangerous offensive lineup that was problematic for Saint Leo University and most recently, Barry University.
Sophomore
Kyle Harding and junior
Richard Cruz-Sanchez each tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief to help quiet the PBA offense. Harding retired the side in order in the top of the ninth in a save situation, his first of the season.
Hanson, the current Sunshine State Conference Player of the Week and
Division II Baseball News National Player of the Week, kept his average around the .600 mark with only one official at-bat.
The Tritons touched PBA starter Nic Kovacs for his first loss after the righty came in with a 2-0 record. Kovacs went the distance on the mound, pitching eight innings with both runs earned on seven hits.
EC tagged the righty for six hits in the first two innings and loaded the bases in the first after freshman
Rowdy Andrews extended his hit streak to six straight games with an infield single hugging the third-base line.
Andrews later blooped a single to lead off the fifth into shallow right that bumped his season average to .476.
Hanson drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Andrews. He also walked and was hit by a pitch.
A three-hit second frame translated into another run as O'Rourke went opposite field and grounded a single to right that plated junior
Lincoln Dunham. Dunham led off the inning with a single.
The Tritons were fundamentally sound in the field and bounced back in a big way after a tough defeat on the road at Saint Leo University earlier this week.
The Tritons and Sailfish will meet again at noon tomorrow at the Turley Athletic Complex to wrap up their three-game series. A nine-inning opening game will be followed with a seven-inning affair.
