Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd baseball team completed a weekend sweep of Palm Beach Atlantic by winning in two completely different fashions on Saturday, first with an offensive outburst and then with a stellar pitching performance.
The Tritons (14-17) punished the Sailfish pitchers to the tune of 25 hits in the opener on the way to an 18-7 win, then won a pitchers' duel in the finale by the score of 3-2 to finish their first weekend sweep of the season.
Eckerd took a 5-0 lead after three innings, scoring four times in the third, and followed with four more runs in the fourth after the Sailfish got on the board with a two-run home run in the top of the inning.
The lead grew to 12-2 in the fifth inning, then ballooned to 18-3 thanks to a six-run outburst in the seventh that included eight Eckerd hits.
Three Tritons -
Lucas Luopa,
Nick Hill and
Grant Banko - posted four hits in the game.Â
Carter Cashman was a perfect 3-for-3 with a team-high 4 RBIs.Â
Garrett Hiott,
Matt MacMahon,
Justin Glover and
Jake O'Rourke also had two hits each.
The 25 hits are the most in a game by an Eckerd team since the 2010 season when the Tritons did it twice, first against Clearwater Christian on February 18 and again on March 15 against Saint Ambrose (Iowa).
The offensive onslaught somewhat overshadowed a solid performance on the mound by
Alex Moore (2-3), who allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings in his longest outing of the season. Moore fanned six while only issuing one walk.
While offense was the theme in the opening game, pitching took center stage in the finale as EC's
Dillon McCollough and PBA's Sam Shields both were nearly unhittable. Shields kept Eckerd in check for the first six innings, retiring 16 straight after Luopa singled in the first inning.
But the Tritons finally broke through in the seventh after Luopa singled again through the right side, followed by a Shields pitch that plunked Hill in the back to end the day for the Sailfish starter. Mitch Calandra advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt and
Tom Buonopane tied the game with a chopper to the right side that brought in Luopa from third.
Grant Banko then delivered what turned out to be the game-winning hit as his line drive managed to evade a leaping Robert Campo at shortstop to drive in Hill. Luopa later added an RBI single in the eighth, his third hit of the game and seventh of the day.
McCollough (4-2) took care of the rest, going the distance for his first collegiate complete game. The freshman allowed only five hits and struck out eight to earn his second straight victory.
Winners of four straight, Eckerd takes the field again on Wednesday hosting Ave Maria (Fla.) at 6:00 PM.
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