ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons baseball team dropped the opening game of a three-game series on Friday, falling 6-5 to the visiting Embry-Riddle Eagles.
Following a scoreless first inning, the Tritons struck first in the bottom of the second, scoring two runs without the benefit of a hit. Three hit batters and a walk produced the first run of the game before Corey Hodierne brought home the second on a sacrifice fly.
After Eckerd stranded an Embry-Riddle runner on third, the Tritons added two more in the bottom of the third. Christian Cabina opened the inning with a single to left, setting up a two-run home run by Kam Gelwick in the next at-bat. The Eagles answered with two runs in the fourth to cut the deficit in half, but Grady Bivens worked out of the jam and left the bases loaded to keep the Tritons in front.
The teams traded scoreless innings through the fifth and sixth before a busy seventh accounted for the remaining runs. Embry-Riddle pushed across four on four hits in the top of the inning to take a 6-4 lead. Eckerd answered in the bottom half when a leadoff double by Ean Gimson came around to score on an RBI single from Hunter Rebhan.
In the ninth, the Tritons put two of their first three batters on base via a walk and a hit-by-pitch. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the game with the visitors holding on for a 6-5 win.
Games two and three of the series will be played tomorrow.
