ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd baseball team dropped its doubleheader with Flagler (Fla.), 8-7 and 3-2, Saturday afternoon at the Turley Athletic Complex. Eckerd rallied with five runs over the final two innings of the opener but was unable to complete the comeback, and they dropped the finale on a late Saints run.
The Saints jumped ahead early with three runs in the second inning in the opener. However, the Tritons closed the gap to one run as Danny Gutcher delivered an RBI single in the fourth, and Mikey Burke scored on a wild pitch in the fifth following a lead-off triple.
FC added a pair of runs in the sixth and three in the eight to take an 8-2 lead. However, the Tritons, as they have done all season, rallied late. Mitch Donofrio plated one run with an RBI single in the eighth. In the final frame, Joe Wike added an RBI single to make it an 8-4 game, and Tyler Cox followed with a three-run homerun down the right field line to cut the deficit to one. However, EC was unable to push the tying run across as Flagler took the opener.
The Saints again went ahead early in the finale, taking a 1-0 lead in the second on Mason Gray's RBI single. The Tritons took a 2-1 favor in the fifth on a two-run single by Burke, scoring Michael Ballard and Gunner Womer, who both walked.
Mylee Colangelo gave FC back the lead in the seventh with a bases-loaded two-run single, and the Triton bats went quiet the rest of the way as the Saint took the finale.
HOW IT ENDED
Game One
FINAL: Flagler 8, Eckerd 7
WP: Faulkner (1-0) LP: Sanderson (0-1) SV: Partridge (1) HR: Cox (1)
Game Two
FINAL: Flagler 3, Eckerd 2
WP: Wysocki (1-1) LP: Durham (0-1) SV: Ayrey (1)
RECORDS: Eckerd 4-6, Flagler 5-5
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Eckerd's offense erupted for 14 hits in the opener. They had three in the finale.
- Dimerson Nunez and Mitch Donofrio collected three hits each in the opener, while Tyler Cox, Danny Gutcher, and Michael Ballard had two apiece.
- Nunez also had two hits in the finale. He went 5-for-8 on the day.
- Donofrio recorded a hit in the opener, extending his hitting streak to nine games. However, it snapped in the second game, but he reached base on a hit-by-pitch extending his reached base streak to 10 games.
- Cox's homerun in the opener was the first of his career.
- Brendan Lawry started the finale, tossing five innings allowing just one run.
UP NEXT
Eckerd opens SSC play next week, hosting Palm Beach Atlantic for a three-game series Friday at 6:00 PM.
