ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd baseball team fended off a late rally by Florida Southern to earn its first series win over the Mocs since 2015 on Saturday at the Turley Athletic Complex, winning the first game of a doubleheader before dropping the finale.
Eckerd jumped ahead early in the opener with eight runs in the second inning as
Robin Allen kept the FSC bats at bay through the first six five innings. The Mocs scored seven runs in the sixth through eighth innings while sending the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth, but Eckerd came up big with strong defense to hold off the Moccasins' rally.
Florida Southern scored early in the finale with seven runs in the first inning as Eckerd was never able to recover.
HOW IT ENDED
Game One
Final: Eckerd 8, Florida Southern 7
WP: Allen (3-0)
LP: M. Martin (3-3)
Sv: Achuff (2)
HR: Diewert (5), Burnsed 2 (4)
Game Two
Final: Florida Southern 17, Eckerd 1
WP: King (3-2)
LP: D. Martin (2-3)
HR: Diewert (6), Scott (3), Frost (2)
Records: Eckerd 16-9 (7-5 SSC); Florida Southern 14-10 (1-5 SSC)
KEY MOMENTS
Game One
- Eckerd wasted little time getting on the board taking a commanding 8-0 lead in the second inning. Sam Cochrane led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third with a stolen base and wild pitch, and quickly came around to score on a Chase Achuff single up the middle. Nick Arrivo kept the Triton offense going with a double down the left field line before Justin Glover delivered a sacrifice fly to left to score Achuff. Mitch Donofrio doubled in Arrivo while Nick Conti followed with an RBI single down the left field line and Keith Leavitt, Jr., also scored on the hit following an error on the play. Eckerd continued its surge loading the bases off a Garrett Hiott walk and Cochrane single. The Tritons scored an additional three runs with the bases loaded via singles from Achuff and Arrivo and a Glover walk.
- Florida Southern threatened early with two runners on and one out in the first inning but the Tritons were able to turn an inning-ending double play. Robin Allen settled in on the mound allowing only one base runner to reach second over the next five innings before surrendering a two-run homerun in the sixth
- The Mocs tacked on another run in the seventh with a solo homerun by Alan Burnsed to lead off the inning.
- FSC pulled within one following a four-run fourth inning. Burnsed hit a three-run homerun for his second homerun of the game before the Mocs added their final run on a sacrifice fly.
- Florida Southern continued to rally in the ninth and nearly pushed the tying run across but the Eckerd defense combined with a clutch strikeout from Achuff ended the game. Two FSC batters reached on a walk and hit-by-pitch with two outs as Zach Scott looked to have tied the game with a single up the middle but Nathaniel Hibbs made a diving play up the middle to keep the ball in the infield and stop the runner from scoring before Achuff retired the final batter on a strikeout to seal the win.
Game Two
- FSC wasted little time scoring taking a 7-0 lead in the opening frame. Zach Diewert hit a three-run homerun while the Mocs followed with a pair of RBI singles. Robert Frost capped the scoring with a two-run homerun.
- FSC plated another five runs in the fifth and sixth innings with a two-run homerun by Scott in the fifth and three straight RBI singles in the sixth.
- Eckerd broke through in the fifth inning as Tim Mira led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches before scoring on a Leavitt, Jr. single through the left side.
- The Mocs tacked on another five runs in the seventh and eighth innings. FSC loaded the bases in the seventh and scored three runs on a two-run single and RBI single in the inning while a sacrifice fly in the eighth pushed the final run across.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Arrivo and Donofrio led Eckerd with three hits each in the opener while each had a pair of doubles. Hiott and Achuff had two hits apiece as well. Leavitt, Jr., was the only Triton with multiple hits in the finale recording two hits and an RBI.
- Allen earned the win in the opener throwing 6-2/3 innings allowing three runs while striking out six to improve to 3-0 on the season while Achuff picked up his second save of the season.
- Drew Martin took the loss in the finale allowing five runs over two-thirds of an inning before leaving the game with an injury.
- Eckerd picks up its first series win over Florida Southern since 2015.
- Twenty different Tritons appeared it the finale while a combined 33 players made appearances for both teams in the game.
- Conti got a hit in the opener to extend his hitting streak to 15 games but the streak stopped there as he went hitless in the finale. He did draw a walk to extend his reached base streak to 20 games. Arrivo had a hit in both games extending his hitting streak to 10 games.
- Eckerd now sits in fourth place in the conference.
UP NEXT
Eckerd has a week off before heading to Rollins for a three-game series with a single game Friday at 6:00 PM.
