ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College baseball team pieced the winning run together in the bottom of the 10th inning to move past 2012 NCAA Division II national champion West Chester (Pa.) University on Tuesday night at the Turley Athletic Complex, 4-3.
The Tritons (15-6, 4-2 SSC) tallied their third straight win after sweeping Florida Tech in a doubleheader last Saturday. The Golden Rams (6-3, 0-0 PSAC) played a game earlier in the day, collecting a win against Slippery Rock University.
Senior
Chris Hanson got the Tritons started in the first inning on a single to right field to score sophomore
Carter Cashman.
In the second inning, senior
Mike Vavasis lined his third home run of the season over the fence in left center to make the score 2-0.
Vavasis drew a one-out walk in the fourth inning, and sophomore
Matt MacMahon sent a double just fair down the right-field line to bring in the Tritons third run of the game.
Eckerd starting pitcher
Richard Kowalski tossed seven scoreless innings before the Golden Rams' offense put runs on the board. West Chester took advantage of singles from Matt Petrizzi and Robert Knox and a Tritons' error to push two runs across in the eighth inning.
Sophomore left-hander
Jack Silberman entered the game in the eighth with two outs to retire the final out of the inning after the Golden Rams scored.
West Chester tied the score at three down to their final three outs to send the game into extra innings on a Tritons' error and a Petrizzi single.
But just as Hanson got the Tritons' offense started, he sent a double deep down the left-field line to score
Zach Mitsmenn and finish the game in the 10th inning.
Junior
Kyle Harding tossed a scoreless 10th inning to pick up the win on the mound and improve to 2-0 on the year.
Hanson led Eckerd's offense with a 2-for-5 performance and two RBI. Vavasis also went 1-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored.
The Tritons will face Ave Maria University tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Live stats and video will be available on
www.EckerdTritons.com.
