LAKELAND, Fla. – The Eckerd baseball team looks to continue its hot streak as they travel to Florida Southern for a three-game Sunshine State Conference Series. The Tritons have won nine of their last 11 games, including SSC series wins over Rollins College and Barry University.
GAME 27: Eckerd College (12-14, 4-5 SSC) at No. 22 Florida Southern (18-6, 3-3 SSC) |
Friday 6:00 PM
GAMES 28 & 29: Eckerd College at Florida Southern |
Saturday (DH) 1:00 PM
Henley Field
Coverage: Stats |
Video
SERIES WIN
- Eckerd won a key SSC series over Barry University last weekend, two games to one. In the first game, Eckerd won 6-2. The Tritons took the lead with three runs in the fifth inning off RBI singles from
Nick Conti and
Mitch Calandra, before a sac fly from
Chase Achuff. In the sixth,
Garrett Hiott stole home before Calandra drove in another run on a single to center. Calandra then drove in EC's final run in the eight driving a ball up the middle.
Joey Favetta came in in relief earning his second save of the season as he struck out seven over three innings while
Dillon McCollough earned the win.
- Eckerd dropped the second game of the series, 12-8, forcing a decisive third game rubber match. Eckerd racked up 15 hits in a 13-3 win in the finale to win the series. The Tritons got things going in the first inning off a
Tom Buonopane RBI triple down the right field line, and never looked back.
Sam Cochrane, Buonopane, Achuff, and
Justin Glover each drove in a run in the finale as Hiott drove in six and had an inside-the-park home run.
HAVE A DAY
- Calandra and Hiott had terrific outings at the plate in the Barry series. Calandra went 9-for-14 with two four-hit games while smacking two doubles. Calandra drove in four runs while scoring six times. Calandra is hitting .363 on the season while driving in 11 runs in his past seven games.
- Hiott went 5-for-10 at the plate driving in seven runs while scoring six runs. In each game Saturday, Hiott smacked a home run including a three-run inside-the-park homer in the finale. Hiott also extended his streak of reaching base safely to 14 games.
BIG BATS
-
Nick Conti (.392),
Sam Cochrane (.384), Calandra (.363), and Buonopnae (.333) are all swinging hot bats coming into the series, leading the Tritons at the plate throughout the season.
- Conti has reached base in every game this season (26). Conti is tied for seventh in the conference with a .475 on-base percentage.
- Cochrane is in the top of the conference in several categories: hits (43), doubles (10), triples (2), at-bats (112), and stolen bases (7). Cochrane also has two home runs this season.
- Buonopane has a 20-game reached base streak. Buonopane went 9-for-13 against Barry, driving in four runs while smacking his second home run of the season.
ON THE MOUND
- Starting pitchers
Dillon McCollough,
Kevin Kane, and
Alex Moore lead the weekend rotation for Eckerd. McCollough leads the team with a 2.27 ERA. McCollough also leads the conference in strikeouts (52) and strikeouts looking (21). McCollough's ERA ranks fourth while his opponent batting average (.182) ranks second. Kane has struck out 20 over 31.2 innings while Moore has fanned 35 over 34 innings.
- Relief pitchers
Joey Favetta and
Jack Mahan lead the way for the Tritons, each with two saves on the season. In Mahan's last six appearances over 9.2 innings, he has not given up a run and only allowed two hits. In Favetta's last seven outings over 10.2 innings, he has not allowed a run while scattering four hits and fanning 20.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN
- The Mocs ride a 10-game win streak coming into the series. The Mocs swept conference provisional member Embry-Riddle last weekend. In the series, Florida Southern racked up at least eight runs in each game.
- Six Mocs are hitting over .300 with Omar Villaman is leading the team hitting .413. Mitch Reeves and Cody Burgess provide the team's power smacking eight and seven home runs, respectively.
- Starting pitchers Jake Walsh and Logan Browning lead the way on the mound. Walsh is 5-1 with a 1.38 ERA. Walsh leads the conference in both ERA (1.38) and opponent batting average (.166). Logan Browning is 4-1 with a 2.90 ERA while fanning 53.
LAST TIME THEY MET
- The two teams met two weeks ago as the Mocs came away with a 6-3 win in a non-conference game at Eckerd. Buonopane had a home run in the loss.
