ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons baseball team won twice on Saturday over the visiting Embry-Riddle Eagles to secure the series win, taking game one by a score of 12-9 before claiming the final by a final of 8-3.
In a long game one that took over three-and-a-half hours, the Tritons erupted for 12 runs on 18 hits, and scored in all but two innings. Eckerd pushed across three to start the game, seeing an RBI double from
Corey Hodierne bring in the first run before
Ean Gimson's sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
Luis Garrido sent a double to the wall in center to cap bring in the third run of the frame.Â
The visitors answered with five runs in the second inning to take their first lead of the contest. Hodierne responded in the bottom half, collecting his second and third RBI of the game with a single that brought home a pair to even the score at five heading into the third.
Five more combined runs crossed in the third, with three coming from the Eagles in the top half. The Tritons answered with two in their at-bat as a deep double to center from Anthony Lino plated a pair and trimmed the deficit to one at 8–7. RBI singles from Hunter Rebhan and Kam Gelwick in the fourth pushed Eckerd back in front, but a run in the top of the fifth by the Eagles tied the game once again at 9-9.
The sixth marked the lone scoreless inning of the contest. Eckerd kept the visitors off the board in the top of the seventh before regaining the lead in the bottom half. Dawson Jones opened the inning with a single and later scored when Joey Bazydlo dropped a bloop hit over a drawn-in infield. Garrido added insurance in the eighth with a two-run home run, and Christian Del Campo worked a three-up, three-down ninth to close out the win and earn the decision on the mound.
Every player in the Eckerd lineup recorded at least one hit. Hodierne led the way with four, while Ean Gimson and Garrido added three apiece.
In game two, another busy inning kicked things off. After Embry-Riddle tallied a run in the top of the first, the Tritons produced their second three-run opening frame of the day. Gelwick quickly evened the score at 1-1 with a run-scoring double, setting up a two-run home run by Christian Cabina moments later. The Tritons mirrored their first-inning total with three more in the second. Dylan Escobar was responsible for the first tally with his RBI single before he came in to score on a triple by Bazydlo. Gimson added a sac fly to make it 6-1 in favor of Eckerd after two innings of play.
Neither team pushed across runs in the third or fourth. The Eagles got one back in the fifth, but it was quickly erased after Eckerd put up two on Hunter Rebhan's homer in the bottom of the inning. The visitors added one more in the seventh, but Nathan Norwood finished the game on the mound to pick up a four-inning save.
Seven different players collected a hit in the win for Eckerd, with Cabina notching two. Tyler Brashear earned the win on the mound.
The Tritons will return to action next weekend for a series at Nova Southeastern.
