Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Thanks to production up and down the lineup, the Eckerd College baseball program hit with authority to all parts of the field even though Barry University emerged in a Sunday doubleheader under the lights, 12-9 (13 innings) and 5-1, at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Junior first baseman
Chris Hanson swatted deep home runs in each game while junior outfield
Mike Vavasis homered, doubled and drove in five runs in the opener alone for the Tritons (15-34, 2-21 SSC).
Eckerd pounded out 15 hits in game one against the Buccaneers (30-19, 13-10 SSC) as Barry outlasted the home team in a four-hour affair to get the evening underway.
Vavasis broke the scoring open with a ringing two-run double against Barry starter Tyler Kinley in the first inning, driving in senior
Lee Spinelle and
Shane Bishop, who doubled and singled prior.
Bishop would finish the first game going 3-for-6 at the plate.
Kinley had the attention of several scouts in attendance, touching 93 mph on the gun. In a 2-2 count, Vavasis spoiled off numerous pitches for foul balls before reaching up and powering the ball into the left-center alley.
The Bucs brought it even in the third, but Vavasis, now hitting .290 on the season, cracked a two-run shot over the fence in left for 4-2 EC lead at the end of three innings.
Vavasis jumped on a 1-0 offering from Kinley and scored Spinelle, who drew a one-out walk.
In the fifth inning, it was Hanson's turn to work the count as the lefty slugger battled back down 0-2 in the count. Following a payoff pitch, he sent a fastball into the night sky for a three-run blast that put the Tritons ahead again, 7-5.
Hanson would later belt his team-leading ninth home run of the season in game two and Vavasis claimed the team lead in RBI with 28 heading into tonight's season finale.
With their backs up against the wall, Eckerd donned its rally cap in the bottom of the ninth, pushing home the tying run on a lined single up the middle from Vavasis down to EC's final out to push the game into extras.
After dueling to scoreless 10th and 11th frames, both team exchanged runs in the 12th before the Bucs scored three runs on three hits in the top half of the 13th.
Freshman
Taylor Owens spun three scoreless innings with three strikeouts in middle relief of freshman starter
Zach Hoppe, who turned in five innings.
The Bucs had an eight-strikeout gem from 6-6 starter Calvin Rayburn as he gave up one run on five hits.
Hanson went 2-for-3, putting a charge into a fastball offering in the bottom of the second inning that tied things up at 1-1. BU's Sheehan Planas-Arteaga led off game two with a homer and the SSC's leading hitter coming in to the series, Adrian English, was 3-for-4 to help back Rayburn.
The Tritons will celebrate their senior class this evening in the final game of the 2013 campaign prior to tonight's scheduled first pitch of 6 p.m. EC will start the festivities for Spinelle,
Jordan Huchro,
Joe Clagg,
Henry Langs and
Tyler Abadal, at 5:40 p.m. with live video/audio and live stats to be streamed on EckerdTritons.com.
