COCHRAN, Ga. -- The Eckerd Tritons baseball team won the first two games of a three-game set against the Middle Georgia State Knights on Friday, winning game one by a score of 13-12 before taking the finale with a score of 7-2.
In game one, Eckerd answered a first-inning run by MGSU with an equalizer in the second after Dylan Escobar led off with a double and later scored on a balk. The Knights reclaimed the lead with a run in the bottom half to go up 2-1, but the Tritons seized control with a seven-run outburst in the top of the third. Three consecutive singles, capped by an RBI hit from Luis Garrido, evened the score at two apiece before a hit batter with the bases loaded put Eckerd back in front. Two straight walks forced in the fourth and fifth runs, setting the stage for an RBI single by Corey Hodierne and a two-run base hit from Hunter Rebhan to give the Tritons an 8–2 advantage. Dawson Jones added a run-scoring single in the following inning to extend Eckerd's lead to 9-2 after four innings of play.
Following a scoreless fifth, the two teams combined for five runs in a busy sixth, beginning with two crossing home plate for the Tritons. Anthony Marino drove in the first tally with a sac fly prior to Ean Gimson's RBI single to bring the score to 10-2. Three runs in the bottom half from the Knights trimmed the gap to six.
Two more came in for Eckerd in the seventh after the first four batters reached safely. Reabhan started things off with a double, coming into score the next play on Kam Gelwick's RBI single. A run-scoring fielder's choice from Escobar later in the inning gave the team its 13th run of the contest. The Tritons endured two runs in the eighth and five in the ninth from the Knights, but stranded a pair of runners on base to end the game and escape with the one-run victory.
The Tritons finished with 15 hits in the win, led by Gelwick's 3-5 effort. Grady Bivens earned his second win of the season on the mound, while Rocco Calise notched the save.
In a seven-inning game two, a wild pitch produced the game's first run as Eckerd carried a 1-0 lead into the second. Middle Georgia State answered with a two-run frame in the bottom half, but Christian Cabina's RBI single up the middle in the third knotted the score at 2-2 after three innings of play.
Jones singled and stole a base to open the fourth before moving to third with two outs. Hodierne delivered a two-out single to bring Jones home, then later scored himself on an MGSU error to give the Tritons a 4–2 edge. Hodierne added two more RBIs in the sixth, and Cabina put an exclamation point on the contest with a solo home run in the seventh to complete the 7-2 victory.
Lucas Cinnante earned the win on the mound, tossing four scoreless innings in relief while striking out six. Hodierne finished a perfect 4-for-4 with three runs batted in.
Game three is scheduled for tomorrow at 1 p.m.
