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Box Score 2 SAINT LEO, Fla. - Sitting three outs and five runs away from losing the final game of a weekend series at Saint Leo, things looked a little bleak for the Eckerd baseball team.
Six runs later, the Tritons walked away with a win.
Eckerd (16-22, 4-13 SSC) scored six times in the top of the ninth inning to complete a furious rally, and
Mike Eagan closed the door in the bottom of the inning as the Tritons avoided a series sweep with a 10-9 win. The Lions won the opening game of the double-header, 5-3.
EC opened the inning with three straight singles by
Nick Hill,
Mitchell Calandra and
Jake O'Rourke and
Grant Banko followed with an RBI single.Â
Tyler Koser then drew a bases-loaded walk on a full count and
Justin Glover drove in two more runs with base hit.
A
Garrett Hiott RBI groundout tied the game and moved Glover into scoring position.Â
Zach Mitsmenn, who entered as a pinch-runner, then scored the go-ahead run when
Jake Romine reached on an error by Lion pitcher Dan Twitty.
Eagan (3-0) then stranded the winning run on base in the ninth inning, retiring Zach Daley - who hit a grand slam in the seventh - on a groundout to end the game.
The Lions took a 4-0 lead after three innings while SLU's Zach Whitaker carried a shutout into the seventh. Eckerd finally got on the board in the seventh on a solo home run (1) by Glover and a RBI double by Hill, but Saint Leo (26-19, 9-11 SSC) responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning.
Glover delivered again in the eighth with an RBI single and Hiott followed with a two-out single to score Koser and get Eckerd within five.
Eagan tossed a scoreless eighth inning to set the stage for the Tritons' epic comeback in the ninth.
Glover, Hill and Hiott led the way at the plate with three hits each while Calandra and O'Rourke had two hits apiece. Glover also drove in four runs.
In the opener, EC kept Saint Leo off the board from the fourth inning on in the opener, but couldn't make up an early deficit as the Lions took a 5-3 victory.
A pair of two-run home runs by Troy Sieber was the difference in the game. Sieber connected in the first and third innings to lift Saint Leo to a 5-2 lead after three.
From there, EC starter
Alex Moore and reliever
Zach Hoppe kept the Lions scoreless, but SLU starter Michael Dunnigan held onto the lead while tossing a complete game.
Eckerd tied the game in the top of the third on an RBI double by Hill and a run-scoring single by Calandra. The tie was short-lived, however, after SLU plated three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Hill connected with a solo home run (6) in the fifth inning to get EC within two runs, but Dunnigan allowed only one baserunner for the remainder of the game.
Moore (2-4) was solid in six innings of work, allowing seven hits and no walks while striking out two. Hoppe followed with two innings of scoreless relief.
Calandra's tear at the plate continued in the opener, following yesterday's four-hit performance with three hits. Hill went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The Tritons head back to the Turley Athletic Complex on Friday for a three-game series with the University of Tampa. On Friday, former EC head coach
Bill Mathews will be honored before the game. Saturday, the home finale, is senior day for the program's 11 seniors.
