Walk-Off Walk Brings Tritons Third Straight Win

Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Terence Hebda drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning to bring home the winning run as the Tritons defeated Rockhurst (Mo.) University on Saturday night, 4-3, at the Turley Athletic Complex.

As was the case with last night's game, tonight's was a pitchers' duel between Eckerd's Alex Moore and Rockhurst's Michael Lydon-Lorson.  Moore threw seven strong innings, allowing just two hits and striking out nine.  The sophomore carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning until Corbin Hare broke up the bid with a single.

The Hawks (6-1) ended the stalemate in the eighth inning, taking advantage of a pair of Eckerd errors with two outs.  Wylson Lamb doubled to drive in both runners who reached as the result of the errors, and scored one batter later when Brett Marr singled to right field.

Eckerd (6-11), however, answered in the bottom half of the inning despite experiencing some bad luck.  Steven Salisbury led off with a triple but was tagged out when he overslid third base.  However, the Tritons kept the inning going with singles by Jamaal Chaney and Mitch Calandra and a walk drawn by Garrett Hiott to load the bases.

P.J. Seufert entered in relief and threw a pair of wild pitches that allowed runs to score on both sides of a sacrifice fly by Chase Achuff.

Jack Mahan then held Rockhurst at bay in the ninth, and Eckerd loaded the bases with one out to put itself on the cusp of a walk-off win.

However, the excitement had to wait as Brock Collins worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out as the game went into extra innings.

Mahan put two runners on with one out in the top of the 10th but coaxed an inning-ending double play, and the Tritons again loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out.

This time, Collins wouldn't be able to escape.  Pinch-hitting for Achuff, Hebda worked the count full and drew a bases-loaded walk to score Nick Conti with the game-winning run.

Moore, Mahan (1-0) and Kevin Kane combined to strike out 13 hitters and allowed no earned runs.

Sam Cochrane extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a double in the seventh and Conti did the same with his streak of reaching base safely via a double in the 10th.  Calandra had a pair of hits from the leadoff spot.

Eckerd wraps up its 11-game home stand on Tuesday, hosting Florida Southern at 6:00 PM.